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A MEMORIAL 


OF 


LEVI  LINCOLN 

THE 


GOVERNOR  OE  MASSACHUSETTS 


FROM  1825  TO  1834. 


B O STO X : 

PRINTED  BY  J.  E.  FAR  WE  EL  & COMPANY. 


M D C C C I.  X V I I I . 


An  ^ 


*0? 


O’NEILL  LIBRARY 
BOSTON  COLLEGE 


ORDER 


BY  THE 

GOVERNOR  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Executive  Department,  Boston,  May  29,  1868. 

His  Excellency  the  Governor  unites  with  the  people  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  paying  the  tribute  of  respect  and  honor  to  the  Hon- 
orable Levi  Lincoln,  who  died  at  his  residence  in  Worcester,  on  the 
29th  instant. 

His  distinguished  services  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Common- 
wealth, his  patriotic  interest  and  wide  influence  in  all  affairs  affecting 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  country,  his  example  of  scrupulous  per- 
formance of  every  duty  of  the  citizen,  the  dignity  and  grace  of  his 
long  life  closing  in  the  veneration  and  esteem  of  all,  require  public 
and  official  recognition.  He  was  one  of  the  foremost  of  those  who 
have  caused  this  State  to  be  respected. 

His  Excellency  directs  the  Adjutant-General  to  tender  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased  the  escort  of  the  Independent  Corps  of  Cadets, 
and  to  order  the  members  of  his  Staff  to  he  in  attendance  at  his  res- 
idence in  Worcester,  at  10  o’clock  A.  M.,  on  the  day  of  the  funeral, 
to  accompany  him  on  that  occasion.  The  members  of  the  Honorable 
Council  and  the  Heads  of  Departments  are  invited  to  be  present  at 
the  same  time  and  place.  The  Executive  Rooms  will  be  closed,  and 
flags  upon  the  State  House  and  the  Arsenal  at  Cambridge,  wall  be 
placed  at  half-mast  on  the  day  of  the  funeral. 

By  order  of  His  Excellency, 

ALEXANDER  II.  BULLOCK,  Governor. 

Oliver  Warner,  Secretary. 


. 


PROCEEDINGS 


IN  THE 

MASSACHUSETTS  LEGISLATURE. 


Boston,  Monday,  June  1,  18C8. 

Mr.  Weston,  of  Plymouth,  introduced  an  order  as  follows  : 

Whereas,  Intelligence  has  been  received  of  the  death  of  Hon. 
Levi  Lincoln,  of  Worcester,  formerly  Governor  of  the  Common- 
wealth ; and, 

Whereas,  The  two  branches  of  the  Legislature  hold  in  high 
esteem  his  many  excellent  qualities  as  a citizen,  and  his  dis- 
tinguished services  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth, 
therefore, 

Ordered,  That  a committee  of  five  on  the  part  of  the  Senate, 
with  such  as  the  House  may  join,  be  appointed  to  attend  the 
funeral  of  the  deceased. 

Messrs.  Weston,  of  Plymouth  ; Fay,  of  Worcester  ; Sutton,  of 
Essex;  Pond,  of  Worcester;  and  Gould,  of  the  Island  District, 
were  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  to  which  the  Ilouse 
joined  Messrs.  Bates,  of  Westfield  ; Williams,  of  Worcester  ; Wat- 
son, of  Leicester ; Blackington,  of  Attleboro’  ; Phipps,  of  Framing- 
ham ; Allen,  of  Newton ; McDuffie,  of  Cambridge ; Howe  of 
Bolton  ; and  Appleton,  of  Southboro’. 


PROCEEDINGS 


IN  THE 

CITY  COUNCIL  OF  WORCESTER. 


At  a special  meeting  of  the  City  Council,  assembled  in  conven- 
tion May  30,  1868,  His  Honor  Mayor  Blake  announced  in  appro- 
priate terms  the  death  of  Hon.  Levi  Lincoln  ; whereupon  the 
following  resolutions  were  offered  by  Alderman  Tolman,  and 
unanimously  adopted  : — 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  City  Government  of  the 
City  of  Worcester  have  learned  with  profound  regret  of  the  recent 
death  of  their  distinguished  fellow-citizen,  Hon.  Levi  Lincoln, 
formerly  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  and 
the  first  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Worcester. 

Resolved,  That  by  his  ability  and  fidelity  in  his  important 
public  relations  to  the  City,  the  State,  and  the  Country,  he 
won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  contemporaries,  and  fur- 
nished a noble  example  for  imitation  by  those  who  were  called  to 
succeed  him. 

Resolved,  That  in  his  devotion  to  the  interests  of  agriculture 
and  the  various  financial  and  business  affairs  of  this  great 
county,  he  largely  contributed  to  its  substantial  growth  and  pros- 
perity, and  to  the  character  and  development  of  the  resources  of  its 
people. 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


7 


Resolved,  That  his  fealty  to  truth,  his  interest  in  sound  learn- 
ing and  general  education,  and  his  deep  reverence  for  the  Christian 
religion  manifested  in  his  public  and  private  life,  have  done  much 
to  cultivate  and  encourage  in  the  community  which  loved  and 
appreciated  him,  the  traits  so  cleai'ly  visible  in  him. 

Resolved,  That  in  his  generous  hospitality,  his  kindly  greeting, 
and  his  uniform  dignity  of  life  and  character,  we  recognize  the  true 
gentleman,  combining  in  himself  a just  reverence  for  the  past  with 
a due  appreciation  of  the  present,  and  carrying  with  him  to  the  last 
an  unclouded  intellect,  and  a heart  which  was  always  young. 

Resolved,  That  the  sympathy  of  the  members  of  the  City 
Government  is  hereby  tendered  to  his  family,  where  his  presence 
was  always  a benediction,  and  that  a copy  of  these  resolutions  be 
furnished  to  the  family,  and  also  entered  upon  the  records  of  the 
City  Government  as  a testimony  of  our  respect  and  gratitude  for 
his  life,  character,  and  services. 

A copy. 

SAMUEL  SMITH, 

City  Cleric. 


Attest : 


the 


FUNERAL. 


The  funeral  services  of  the  late  Hon.  Levi  Lincoln,  LL.D.,  were 
held  June  2d,  and  were  attended  by  a large  concourse  of  civil  and 
literary  notables  from  all  parts  of  the  State.  The  day  was  bright 
and  fair,  and  the  solemn  occasion  drew  together  a large  collection 
of  the  people  of  the  city,  and  the  surrounding  towns.  The  number 
of  aged  men  about  the  streets  and  in  attendance  on  the  ceremonies 
was  remarkable.  From  all  the  surrounding  towns  the  men  of  the 
past  generation  gathered  to  pay  the  last  honors  to  one  who  from 
their  earlier  years  they  have  looked  up  to  as  a good  and  great 
example. 

A special  train  bearing  Ilis  Excellency  Gov.  Bullock  and  stall', 
the  Executive  Council,  a committee  of  both  branches  of  the  Legis- 
lature, the  Independent  Corps  of  Cadets,  four  companies,  and  many 
other  distinguished  personages,  arrived  from  Boston  at  10.25  A.M. 

Private  funeral  ceremonies  were  held  at  the  house,  Rev.  Alonzo 
Hill,  D.D.,  the  pastor  of  the  deceased,  officiating.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  these  services,  a procession  of  the  relatives  in  carriages, 
escorted  by  the  Cadets,  moved  down  Elm  and  through  Main  street 
to  Dr.  Hill’s  church,  near  the  court  house.  All  places  of  business 
were  closed,  and  thousands  of  people  thronged  the  sidewalks  to  view 
the  mournful  cortege. 

Prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  procession  at  the  church,  seats  had 
been  taken  by  Governor  Bullock  and  staff,  members  of  the  council, 
heads  of  departments,  legislative  committees,  the  past  and  present 
members  of  the  city  government  of  Worcester,  and  members  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  and  the  bar  of  Worcester  County. 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


9 


The  galleries  and  side  pews  were  filled  by  citizens  who  ap- 
peared deeply  interested  in  the  solemnities.  The  pulpit  was  very 
tastefully  decorated  with  beautiful  flowers,  the  lily  of  the  valley 
predominating,  and  the  casket  was  also  nearly  covered  with  floral 
decorations.  As  the  remains  were  brought  into  the  church,  the 
band  outside  performed  a solemn  dirge,  and  every  one  within  stood 
until  the  coffin  had  been  placed  in  front  of  the  pulpit. 

The  exercis'es  in  the  church  were  opened  by  a brief  dirge  upon 
the  organ,  followed  by  the  chant,  “ Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our 
dwelling-place  in  all  generations. ” Rev.  Dr.  Hill,  for  forty-one 
years  the  pastor  of  the  deceased,  read  appropriate  selections  of 
Scripture,  and  spoke  as  follows  : — 


REMARKS  OF  REV.  DR.  HILL. 

My  Friends  : — After  the  heart-thrilling  words  to  which  we 
have  just  listened,  words  of  unutterable  solemnity,  so  uplifting, 
soothing,  and  comforting,  I feel  how  poor  and  unworthy  of  an 
occasion  like  this  is  mere  human  speech.  In  the  presence  of  the 
dead,  and  of  such  dead  as  we  have  borne  into  this  temple,  the 
closed  lips  and  the  silent  meditation  would  better  become  us.  We 
are  on  our  way  with  our  precious  burden  to  the  garden  of  our 
sepulchres,  and  pause  here  where  the  living  form  of  our  departed 
fellow-worshipper  comes  so  freshly  back,  that  we  may  gather  help 
to  bear  the  bereavement,  which,  though  long  delayed,  has  now 
come  upon  us,  lift  the  cloudy  screen  that  now  lies  shut  down  upon 
this  community,  and  interpret  aright  the  great  lesson  which  Provi- 
dence is  now  teaching  us.  The  man  who,  for  two-thirds  of  a 
century,  has  been  leader  among  us,  the  staff  and  stay  of  our 
Jerusalem,  the  venerable  counsellor  in  whose  wisdom  and  ex- 
perience we  confided,  the  earnest  watchman  that  stood  upon  our 
towers  to  give  warning  of  danger,  the  honorable  man  who  never 
wavered  in  his  duty,  and  the  eloquent  orator,  has  been  taken  from 


2 


10 


MEMOKIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


us ; and  where  shall  the  word  be  found  which  shall  speak  worthily 
of  the  greatness  of  our  loss  ? Who  shall  teach  us  to  improve  it 
aright  ? There  was  one  once  among  us  who  could  do  this,  and 
we  all  felt  that  through  his  luminous  speech  and  prompt  act  we 
were  led  to  think  and  do  that  which  was  worthiest  and  best.  And 
who  of  us  to-day,  that  remembers  with  what  finished  accomplish- 
ments he  maintained  his  lot  among  us,  is  not  ready  to  exclaim  : 

“ 0 for  the  sound  of  the  voice  that  is  stilled, 

And  the  touch  of  a vanished  hand.” 

But,  friends,  there  is  more  here  than  we  hear  and  see.  He 
who,  enclosed  in  this  coffin,  has  led  hither  this  great  funeral  train 
within  these  portals,  comes  not  to  receive  our  praises,  for  God 
alone  is  here  to  receive  homage,  not  man,  frail  like  ourselves  ; but 
he  comes  to  give  us  instruction,  to  draw  us  away  from  the  mean- 
nesses of  material  things,  to  quicken  our  faltering  faith,  and  raise 
us  into  the  atmosphere  of  light,  and  reverence,  and  devotion. 
Once  he  used  to  speak  to  us  in  the  thronged  assembly ; how 
eloquently  ! and  we  were  moved  and  persuaded  as  he  spoke,  for 
we  revered  his  wisdom,  experience,  and  power  of  influence.  But 
to-day  he  speaks  to  us  as  he  never  spoke  before.  His  last  speech 
is  his  truest,  noblest,  and  most  affecting.  True,  from  under  the 
lid  of  yonder  coffin  proceeds  no  sound.  Silent  the  lips  on  which 
hung  the  dews  of  persuasion,  inactive  the  brain  which  made  the 
head  throb  with  its  motion  ; still,  now,  the  hand  which  com- 
manded attention  by  its  wave ; but  how  much  more  in  the 
spectacle  before  us  is  there  to  subdue,  move  and  urge  us  into  the 
ways  of  right  living.  What  a marvellous  change  has  come  over 
the  venerable  man  whom  we  so  recently  saw  in  our  streets,  in  the 
places  of  business,  in  the  retirement  of  home.  Though  burdened 
with  the  weight  of  eighty-five  years,  so  erect,  so  active,  so  prompt, 
so  faithful  in  all  the  duties  of  his  life,  now  so  motionless  — the 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


11 


calmness  of  heaven  on  his  brow,  reposing  in  the  arms  of  death,  on 
his  way  to  join  his  kindred  in  their  place  of  rest.  What  a 
stupendous  change  has  come  over  him  in  a brief  period.  Now 
no  longer  struggling  with  the  weakness  of  mortality,  no  longer 
walking  in  the  midst  of  these  familiar  scenes,  under  the  light 
of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  but  ascended  to  the  domains  of  God, 
gazing  on  visions  which  can  fill  only  with  astonishment  and 
delight,  — sharing  in  the  companionship  of  kindred  natures,  enjoy- 
ing the  Saviour‘’s  welcome  and  the  smile  of  God.  I make  no 

C* 

attempts  to  withdraw  the  veil  and  disclose  the  secrets  of  the 
spiritual  world,  but  I maintain  that  he  who  was  just  now  with  us 
and  is  now  an  inhabitant  of  that  world,  who  has  gone  the  round  of 
our  earthly  life,  grown  familiar  with  all  its  vicissitudes  of  joy  and 
grief,  and  has  gazed  with  fresh  wonder  and  surprise  upon  the 
scenes  which  have  burst  upon  him,  so  strange  — so  transporting  — 
must,  if  we  will  sympathize  and  meditate,  as  we  should  do  who 
are  to  pass  through  a like  experience,  teach  a deeper  lesson  than 
any  human  speech  can  do.  On  one  occasion,  while  he  was 
awaiting  the  summons  home,  he  gazed  from  his  western  window 
upon  the  setting  sun  sending  up  streams  of  parting  glory,  illu- 
minating half  the  globe  and  filling  it  with  unspeakable  splendor, 
and  said,  “Heaven  comes  down  to  earth;  if  such  be  the  glory 
below,  what  must  it  be  above?”  Who  can  contemplate  the 
change  of  worlds  but  with  the  deepest  interest  ? 

I spoke  of  our  venerable  friend  before  us  in  his  lifetime  as 
influential,  commanding,  occupying  during  the  long  years  that 
were  allotted  him,  a position  of  eminence  and  doing  a work  which 
has  rarely  been  accomplished  by  a single  man.  He  seemed  born 
for  a leader,  and  used  his  rich  faculties  so  faithfully  and  so 
successfully  that  the  biographer  of  our  times  will  pronounce  him 
foremost  among  the  men  who  guided  the  destiny  of  this  county 
and  this  Commonwealth,  and  won  for  them  a noble  distinction. 
But  I must  not  dwell  upon  these  things  here  and  now.  I trust 


12 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


on  a future  occasion  to  be  able  to  tell  what  he  was  and  what  he 
did,  to  walk  with  you  over  the  familiar  fields  which  he  trod,  and 
tell  you  of  the  influences  which  were  about  him  and  helped  mould 
him,  and  how  he  improved  his  great  gifts  and  made  them  instru- 
mental in  improving  and  perfecting  the  community  with  which 
he  was  connected.  But  to-day  I can  only  allude  to  one  character- 
istic which  lay  at  the  heart  of  him  and  made  him  what  he  was, 
gave  unity  of  purpose  and  strength  of  coloring  to  his  life,  and  a 
value  to  his  living  example  which  made  it  unquestionable. 

I think,  beyond  most  men  who  have  been  for  so  long  a period 
devoted  to  the  public  service,  he  felt  his  responsibility  and  was 
under  the  influence  of  profound  religious  principles.  He  never 
was  indifferent  to  those  high  considerations  which  connect  us  with 
the  spiritual  world ; he  held  fast  to  an  enlightened  conscience 
though  the  world  should  judge  him  perverse;  though  as  far  as 
possible  removed  from  the  cant  of  religious  pretence,  his  reverence 
for  the  Creator  and  the  grand  realities  of  spiritual  things  was  pro- 
found. On  one  or  two  occasions  he  spoke  to  me  on  these  topics 
with  such  earnestness  and  depth  of  emotion  that  I could  not  doubt 
that  subjects  connected  with  the  inner  life  were  very  dear  to  him. 
No  man  sympathized  with  the  noblest  utterances  of  earnest  reli- 
gious men  more  sincerely.  No  man  separated  with  a truer  dis- 
crimination the  right  from  the  wrong  than  he  — and  when  he  saw 
men  in  public  life  — men  trusted  and  honored  by  a confiding 
people  allured  away  from  their  high  duty  and  a manly  expression 
of  it  by  their  want  of  principle,  their  mean  cowardice  and  sordid, 
selfish  apprehensions,  even  in  his  sick-room  his  eye  would  kindle, 
his  cheek  would  flush,  and  the  brave  utterance  that  once  stirred 
senators  and  won  the  confidence  of  the  great  community,  would 
flow  from  his  lips  in  burning  words  and  tones  of  indignant  rebuke. 

Nor  was  our  venerable  friend  destitute  of  those  more  genial 
and  tender  qualities  which  invest  with  especial  interest  the  religious 
character.  There  is  a trait  of  the  Puritan  character  of  New 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


13 


England  which  is  not  winning.  It  has  been  said  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  that  “in  the  cold,  quiet  eye,  in  the  lip  and  voice,  there 
were  signs  that  assured  us  of  a spirit  that  all  the  terrors  of  earth 
could  not  quail,  nor  all  the  ordinary  seductions  of  earth 
move  a hair.”  With  all  this  inflexible  adherence  to  principle, 
Gov.  Lincoln  was  of  a gentler  nature.  Firm  as  adamant  when 
duty  demanded,  he  could  be  easily  moved  by  appeals  to  the  more 
tender  sensibilities  — he  was  strong  in  his  sympathies  and  enduring 
in  his  friendship,  and  was  easily  affected  by  the  common  vicissi- 
tudes and  ruptured  ties  which  diversify  our  lives  and  touch  many 
so  lightly.  lie  was  tender  and  loving  in  his  affections  and  was 
never  indifferent  to  those  relations  which  connected  him  with  his 
fellow  men  and  with  his  God.  You  can  bear  witness  how  earn- 
estly and  how  faithfully  he  labored  for  the  good  of  this  community, 
neglecting  no  opportunity  by  which  he  might  help  friends,  city, 
state  and  common  country ; and  I can  bear  witness  how  true  he 
was  in  his  allegiance  to  the  principles  of  a broad,  rational  religion, 
to  the  traditions  of  New  England,  to  his  Saviour  and  his  God. 
On  one  occasion  he  said  to  me,  with  a strength  of  emotion  and 
expression  I can  never  forget — (it  was  in  one  of  those  rare  hours 
in  his  sick-room,  when  all  the  powers  of  nature  seemed  to  be 
giving  way,  and  he  apprehended  that  lie  might  be  wrecked  and 
stranded  in  mind  as  well  as  body),  “I  have  tried  to  serve  God 
and  do  good  as  I have  been  able  — He  will  not  forsake  me 
now.” 

God  did  not  forsake  him.  He  tried  him  as  he  tries  us  all. 
But  in  the  cross  of  a fearful,  much  dreaded  disease,  so  prevalent  in 
our  day,  and  so  awful  in  its  effects,  lie  wras  spared  its  most'humili- 
ating  consequences.  The  paralysis  which  prostrated  his  active 
frame  and  crippled  his  energies,  never  reached  his  mental  faculties. 
There  was  his  intellect,  clear,  full  and  unimpaired.  There  was 
his  conscience  as  severe  and  exacting  as  when  ho  encountered  the 
temptations  of  an  active,  busy  life,  and  resisted  them  all.  There 


14 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


was  the  heart  beating  in  sympathy  with  all  generous  emotions, 
and  responsively  to  all  noble  endeavors. 

He  passed  the  winter  without  apparent  suffering  ; able  to  trans- 
act his  ordinary  business,  maintaining  a watchful  interest  in  those 
great  public  events  which  have  shaken  the  continent  and  arrested 
the  attention  of  the  world.  The  snows  of  winter  lay  later  on  the 
ground,  and  the  damp,  chilly  fogs  of  spring  were  seldom  lifted,  and 
for  many  weeks  he  has  been  no  more  seen  abroad.  A mortal 
weakness  came  on  and  spread  more  and  more.  Then,  too  languid 
to  see  his  friends  and  to  talk  with  them,  he  withdrew  from  the  out- 
ward world.  A few  days  ago  he  went  to  his  bed,  calmly  waiting 
for  the  release  for  which  he  prayed.  He  was  ready  to  go  and  why 
should  death  delay?  It  came  at  last  as  Heaven’s  last  merciful 
interposition.  He  slept  with  his  people.  A great  community  is 
bereaved,  and  another  soul,  gifted  of  Heaven,  capable  of  doing  a 
large  service,  true  to  his  trusts,  devoted  to  his  tasks,  has  ascended. 


“He  has  gone  to  his  God,  he  has  gone  to  his  home, 
No  more  amid  peril  and  error  to  roam ; 

His  eyes  are  no  longer  dim, 

His  feet  will  no  longer  falter ; 

No  grief  can  follow  him, 

No  pang  his  cheek  can  alter. 

“ 0 honored,  beloved,  to  earth  unconfined 
Thou  hast  soared  on  high,  thou’st  left  us  behind, 
But  our  parting  is  not  forever  ; 

We  will  follow  thee  by  heaven’s  light, 
Where  the  grave  cannot  dissever 
The  souls  whom  God  will  unite.” 


Rev.  Dr.  Ellis,  of  Charlestown,  pronounced  the  following  appro- 
priate eulogy  upon  the  deceased  : 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


15 


“ Having  served  his  generation  according  to  the  will  of  God, 
he  has  fallen  on  sleep.”  A sentence  of  Christian  Scripture  is 
most  fitting  alike  for  sentiment  and  words  to  give  direction  to  our 
thoughts  at  the  burial  rites  of  one,  who,  whether  in  a lofty  or  a 
humble  sphere,  has  lived  and  died  a disciple  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Where  our  common  mortality  asserts  its  power  over  humanity,  the 
lessons  and  the  hopes  which  are  the  most  full  and  the  most  devout 
in  their  substance  have  power  over  the  largest  number  of  human 
hearts. 

And  so  over  the  remains  of  this  honored  and  venerated  man, 
judge,  governor,  and  faithful  functionary  in  many  exalted  trusts, 
our  associate  also  in  the  fellowships  for  all  high  culture  and  our 
esteemed  and  beloved  friend  in  all  relations  — we  repeat  the  words 
— “ Having  served  his  generation  according  to  the  will  of  God,  he 
has  fallen  on  sleep.”  There  is  the  substance  of  biography  and 
the  method  and  rule  of  true  piety  in  that  sentence,  and  wherever 
we  can  truly  speak  it  over  the  dead  we  utter  through  it  all  that  is 
desirable  or  becoming  as  an  eulogium  on  an  occasion  like  this. 
When  in  his  own  or  in  other  private  homes,  in  legislative  halls  or 
in  the  literary  associations  of  which  he  was  a member,  he  and  his 
life’s  work  are  freely  and  fully  commemorated  — there  may  be  said 
what  we  withhold  now  while  even  his  mortal  dust  is  with  us. 

He  has  served  three  generations.  He  has  long  outlived  those 
who  invested  him  with,  and  those  who  shared  with  him,  his  highest 
offices.  Most  of  us  have  known  him  only  as  one  in  retirement 
from  them,  valued  highly,  indeed,  because  he  served  as  an  exam- 
ple, a model,  a memory  even,  of  the  old  dignity,  rectitude  and  full 
qualification,  personal  and  professional,  associated  with  the  magis- 
tracies of  our  beloved  Commonwealth.  Indeed,  the  feeling  which 
his  presence  prompted  in  many  of  us  was  that  he  was  still  virtually 
the  representative  of  all  the  functions  and  prerogatives  of  actual 
authority  and  influence  in  the  State  ; and  this,  not  because  he  still 
appeared  in  public  {daces  or  in  the  public  press,  but  because  he 


16 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


was  still  a power  with  us.  He  had  had  the  discipline  and  oppor- 
tunity from  his  earliest  years,  domestic,  social  and  professional,  to 
fit  him  for  public  life  and  to  hold  high  trust.  The  stock  of  his 
lineage  was  that  which  New  England  has  favored  and  cultivated 
as  meeting  its  exigencies  in  the  past,  and  as  most  characteristic  of 
its  distinctive  qualities,  most  likely  to  keep  for  it  what  it  has  learned 
to  value  as  its  well  proved  advantages.  As  he  attained  succes- 
sively the  honors  conferred  upon  him,  the  pride  and  vanity  which 
they  sometimes  bring  with  them  had  been  already  chastened  by  an 
anticipated  familiarity  and  an  instructive  warning  in  which  he  was 
privileged  through  intercourse  with  many  around  him,  both  weak 
and  strong  in  character. 

How  much  has  entered  into  the  training  and  the  trial  of  that 
long  and  varied  and  public  life ; how  much  of  labor,  effort,  strug- 
gle, discipline,  energy,  fidelity  and  resolute  self-mastery  as  its 
forming  and  guiding  influences,  and  how  much  of  providential 
mingling  and  working  in  the  portion  and  alternation  of  heart  joy 
and  sorrow  allotted  to  him.  Many  times,  on  fine  autumn  days,  as 
he  has  made  me  his  companion  in  drives  over  these  circling  hills 
whence  we  could  look  either  upon  the  farm  region  within  the  wide 
horizon  or  down  upon  the  thick  clustered  dwellings  and  workshops 
of  this  fair  city,  I have  tried  through  his  memory  and  relations  to 
read  your  local  history  in  the  landscape,  and  to  see  and  hear  the 
men  and  women  of  the  past  as  they  moved  upon  the  stage  of  life. 

He  first  knew  these  scenes  and  localities  when,  though  they 
had  parted  with  the  aspects  of  a wilderness,  they  were  still  invested 
with  the  rude  simplicity  and  some  of  the  stern  features  of  a rugged 
country  life.  The  joys  of  his  childhood  were  so  associated  with 
the  objects  and  interests  of  a farm,  that  to  the  very  end  of  his 
lengthened  days,  and  most  so  when  nearest  to  it,  he  found  his 
occupation  and  delight  in  the  same  cherished  pursuits.  A guest 
in  his  delightful  home  who  had  gone  to  his  rest  at  night  as  in  a 
city  mansion,  would  awake  in  early  morning  to  the  lowing  of  kine 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


17 


and  the  cackling  of  fowls.  Looking  from  one  side  of  the  house 
he  would  see  the  beautiful  flower-garden  with  its  conservatory, 
and  on  the  other  the  herd  going  out  to  pasture  and  the  yoked 
oxen  to  their  labor. 

And  then  the  Governor  would  point  to  his  own  paternal  acres, 
and  tell  what  was  once  their  value  for  corn  and  grass,  and  what 
they  represented  as  subdivided  and  measured  by  the  foot  now  to 
their  owners,  when  the  river  and  every  thread  of  running  water 
are  turned  to  such  manifold  industries.  He  spoke  of  men  younger 
than  himself  as  old,  while  he  had  no  thought  of  appropriating  the 
epithet.  He  recalled  the  line  of  his  contemporaries,  and  traced 
the  living  back  through  it.  Not  always,  but  often,  he  would 
begin  or  end  the  drive  at  the  cemetery,  which  he  had  roamed  over 
as  a forest  in  his  boyhood,  and  into  which,  having  instigated  and 
superintended  its  present  use,  he  had  followed  so  many  friends 
and  associates,  and  where  his  own  form  is  to  rest  at  the  close  of 
these  solemnities. 

His  life  covers  the  whole  period  of  our  national  existence  and 
administration.  If  what  has  been  in  his  mind  and  has  passed 
within  his  observation  were  written  and  printed  before  us,  we 
should  have  a sufficient  history  of  times  and  men,  of  events  and 
crises,  of  the  principles  and  issues  which  have  been  on  trial,  and  of 
the  parties  which  represented  them.  And  this  we  may  say  — 
without  ascribing  to  him  philosophic  profoundness  or  consummate 
genius,  or  passionless  impartiality  — that  no  man  has  lived  through 
our  history  who  would  have  written  it  out  to  all  good  uses  of 
correct  information  and  fair  narration,  with  the  balance  of  reserve 
and  disclosure  about  prominent  individuals  and  their  motives, 
better  than  he  would  have  done.  His  own  official  papers  must 
have  in  them  much  of  that  history. 

"W  bile  he  bore  from  time  to  time  the  names  of  parties,  nearly 
every  service  which  he  performed  was  without  any  reference  to 
party  interests.  lie  had  the  rare  distinction,  shared  by  only  a very 
3 


18 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


few  public  men  among  us,  of  being  chosen  to  his  highest  offices 
independently  of  pai'ty  votes,  and  of  being  the  medium  through 
which  old  party  issues  ceased  to  have  any  vitality.  He  was  privi- 
leged in  some  respects  in  coming  upon  times  which  favored  such 
amities  following  upon  bitter  political  strifes.  But  it  was  not  by 
any  weak  concessions,  nor  by  any  doubtful  compliances,  that  he 
reconciled  the  variances  of  others  or  secured  high  popular  appro- 
bation for  himself.  He  had  political  principles,  and  he  never 
concealed  or  yielded  them. 

In  private  life  he  was  pure  and  faithful,  guided  by  a conscien- 
tious rectitude  in  the  multiplied  duties  with  which  he  charged  him- 
self for  others,  and  carrying  a scrupulous  punctiliousness  into  every 
detail.  The  religious  faith  which  had  parted  with  some  of  its 
sterner  features  of  early  New  England  traditions  as  it  presented 
itself  to  him  in  the  vigor  of  his  manhood,  the  faith  which  he  took 
to  his  heart  in  conviction,  reverence  and  full  satisfaction,  wrought 
its  inward  work  upon  his  character.  He  loved  and  honored  the 
venerable  pastor  and  teacher  under  whose  ministrations  he  received 
what  he  regarded,  in  times  of  heated  controversy,  as  an  exposition 
.of  the  gospel  of  Christ  most  fitted  to  win  and  control  the  affections 
and  the  life. 

He  represented  among  us  the  graces  and  the  courtesies  which 
are  the  traditions  of  the  last  age  of  the  most  honored  and  most 
accomplished  public  men.  There  was  a befitting  dignity  of  de- 
meanor, bearing,  and  address  which  marked  him  in  his  home  as  in 
his  official  intercourse.  His  gravity  was  relieved  by  a refined 
urbanity  and  a thoughtful  kindness.  He  was  a careful  chooser  of 
right  words  in  his  speech,  and  when  in  the  private  circle  or  in 
public  discussion  he  had  to  speak  of  or  to  speak  to  those  whom  he 
did  not  like,  or  with  whom  he  differed,  his  self-respect  confined 
him  both  to  the  terms  and  to  the  sentiments  of  a refined  decorum 
and  a restrained  temper.  He  corrected  his  public  utterances  in  his 
thought  before  they  passed  into  written  or  spoken  language. 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


19 


And  now  his  long  life  has  closed.  From  home,  and  street, 
and  sanctuary,  his  presence  will  be  missed,  yet  many  fond 
memories  and  respectful  regards  will  hold  him  in  the  hearts  of 
survivors.  Many  sharp  afflictions  running  through  all  the  periods 
of  his  life  had  come  to  him  in  and  through  that  home,  but  they 
had  still  left  him  its  earliest  and  dearest  companion,  and  other 
quiet  and  constant  fellowships  for  the  heart.  His  account  and 
record  with  his  fellow-men  were  in  all  things  and  in  all  ways  such 
that  we  may  yield  him  to  meet  with  his  own  submissive  trust  the 
judgment  which  he  looked  for  from  the  heavenly  Father,  the  God 
of  his  youth  and  of  his  age. 

At  the  close  of  the  address,  the  hymn  by  Montgomery,  “ There 
is  a calm  for  those  who  weep,”  was  sung  by  the  choir,  followed 
by  a prayer  by  Dr.  Hill.  A dirge  by  the  choir  completed  the 
services. 

A procession  was  then  formed,  and  proceeded  to  the  Rural 
Cemetery  in  the  following  order  : — 

Police. 

Chief  Marshal  Col.  George  W.  Richardson  and  Assistant 
Marshals  William  Cross,  Samuel  Woodward,  Wm. 

S.  Davis,  C.  B.  Pratt,  and  T.  W.  Hammond. 
Independent  Corps  of  Cadets,  with  arms  reversed. 

Body  of  deceased. 

Bearers:  — Ex-Gov.  Washburn,  Ex-Gov.  Clifford,  Ex-Gov. 
Banks,  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  Hon.  B.  F.  Thomas, 

Hon.  Isaac  Davis,  John  Hammond,  Esq. 

Benjamin  Butman,  Esq. 

His  Excellency  Gov.  Bullock  and  staff. 

Heads  of  Departments  of  State  and  other  State  authorities. 

Committee  of  the  Legislature. 

Family  and  friends  of  the  deceased. 


20 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


Worcester  City  Government,  present  and  past. 

American  Antiquarian  Society. 

Bar  of  Worcester  County. 

Worcester  Light  Infantry,  with  arms  reversed. 

State  Guard,  in  citizens’  dress. 

Citizens. 

The  cortege  was  extremely  long,  and  on  the  arrival  at  the 
cemetery,  made  almost  a complete  circuit  of  the  grounds,  and  the 
larger  part  of  the  cortege  was  obliged  to  remain  in  line  in  the 
avenues  during  the  interment. 

At  the  close  of  the  ceremonies  the  State  authorities  and  the 
military  escort  proceeded  to  the  residence  of  Gov.  Bullock,  where 
they  partook  of  a collation  before  returning  to  Boston,  and  the  local 
organizations  returned  to  the  City  Hall. 

During  the  exercises  business  was  generally  suspended,  and 
the  whole  people  united  in  paying  homage  to  the  memory  of  the 
lamented  dead. 


FULL  OF  DAYS,  RICHES  AND  HONOR, 


A Discourse  preached  "before  the  Second  Congregational  Society  in 
Worcester,  June  7,  1868,  the  Sunday  after  the  burial  of  the 

HON.  LEVI  LINCOLN. 

BY  ALONZO  HILL. 

“ And  he  died  in  a good  old  age,  full  of  days,  riches  and 
honor.’7 — 1 Chronicles  29:  28. 

This  language  of  the  chronicler,  employed  to  describe  the 
prospered  condition  and  happy  death  of  David,  will  apply  with 
singular  truthfulness  to  that  honored  man  whose  well-rounded 
life  has  just  been  brought  to  a close,  and  whose  body  we  bore 
the  last  week,  with  more  than  wonted  solemnity,  to  the  tomb.  The 
son  of  Jesse  reigned  over  Israel  forty  years  — seven  years  in 
Hebron  and  thirty-three  years  in  Jerusalem.  Our  venerated 
friend  bore  a social  and  moral  sway  longer  than  that ; and  who 
shall  take  up  his  crown  and  reign  in  his  stead  ? In  paying  him  the 
brief  tribute  which  we  did  the  other  day,  I promised  a more 
extended  notice,  and  to  lay  before  you  some  of  the  characteristics 
which  distinguished  him,  gave  him  his  great  and  enduring  influ- 
ence, and  have  secured  for  him  an  exalted  place  in  our  annals. 
He  lived  and  died  with  no  spot  upon  his  fame  ; and,  what  is  espe- 
cially to  be  noticed,  he  retained  his  noble  moral  position  and 
unbounded  moral  influence  unto  the  end.  Other  men,  eminent 
in  their  day,  when  they  have  retired  from  active  business  and  the 
conspicuous  acts  of  official  serving,  have  fallen  into  a state  of 
partial  obscurity,  and  cut  off  from  intercourse  with  passing  genera- 

(21) 


22 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEYI  LINCOLN. 


tions,  have  been  remembered  only  in  their  tradition.  But  Gov. 
Lincoln,  though  he  survived  for  fifteen  years  the  allotted  age  of 
man,  though  engrossed  in  his  private  affairs,  the  cares  of  his  farm, 
the  nursing  of  his  estate  and  his  building,  — no  more  heard  in  pub- 
lic debate  and  seldom  seen  away  from  his  home,  — was  still  a felt 
power,  a living  influence  in  city,  and  county,  and  state.  In  critical 
times,  when  human  passions  were  aroused,  when  there  were  no  pre- 
cedents to  guide,  and  a false  step  would  bring  peril  to  the  Common- 
wealth, he  was  the  Nestor  to  whose  wisdom  and  experience  there 
was  constant  appeal ; and  he  ruled  more  absolutely  by  his  private 
counsel  and  expressed  opinions  than  when  he  sat  in  the  chair  of 
state  and  commanded  the  resources  of  a loyal  people. 

A man  like  this,  whose  opportunities  and  position  have  been 
so  exalted,  who  retained  to  the  last  such  influence,  and  won  for 
himself  such  confidence,  respect  and  reverence  in  the  heart  of 
this  community,  should  not  be  suffered  to  pass  away  without  being 
closely  studied,  in  order  that  we  may  learn  the  great  lesson  which 
he  teaches.  IV  e would  contemplate  anew  his  outer  life,  so  for- 
tunate and  favoring  in  all  its  circumstances,  to  the  end  that  we 
may  more  fully  comprehend  the  inward  life,  which  was  the  strength 
of  him,  his  riches  and  honor.  For  how  propitious  soever  may  be 
these  circumstances,  unless  there  be  the  man  beneath,  whom  they 
may  reach  and  help  mould,  they  are  worthless ; they  only  serve  to 
render  more  conspicuous  the  inward  poverty. 

Levi  Lincoln  inherited  a name  that  has  long  been  illustrious 
in  our  annals.  The  eminent  Major-Gen.  Lincoln,  of  our  revolu- 
tionary times,  was  of  his  lineage.  His  father,  Levi  Lincoln,  Sr., 
was  a man  of  distinction,  — eminent  for  his  ability  and  accomplish- 
ments, Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  and  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States,  — a man  whose  influence  was  marked 
on  his  generation  and  could  not  fail  to  be  very  great  on  the 
character  of  his  oldest  son,  who,  born  in  this  town,  October  25th, 
1782,  always  made  this  his  home  and  knew  no  other.  He  lived 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


23 


on  land  which  he  obtained  from  members  of  his  family,  and  was 
buried  on  a spot  bequeathed  to  the  city  for  burial  purposes  by  one 
of  his  kindred. 

He  was  a man  of  varied  and  generous  endowments.  We  do 
not  claim  for  him  pre-eminent  ability.  He  possessed  none  of  that 
creative  genius  which  startles  the  world  by  its  inspirations,  lifts  it 
up  by  its  rare  fancies,  and  enriches  it  by  its  inventions  and  discov- 
eries. His  was  not  the  poetic  element  which  revels  in  strangely 
brilliant  fancies,  and  charms  by  its  new  and  wonderful  combina- 
tion of  thought.  He  was  no  lover  of  other  men’s  poetry,  and 
rarely,  if  ever,  read  a work  of  fiction.  Indeed,  he  was  not  a large 
reader  of  books,  and  with  books  of  high  art  or  of  humble  literature, 
his  sympathies  were  few.  His  talents  and  tastes  were  of  another 
kind.  His  gifts  were  eminently  practical.  He  was  no  classical 
scholar  nor  profound  metaphysician,  as  his  father  was  ; but  he  pos- 
sessed pre-eminently  that  rarest  of  all  God’s  gifts  to  man,  common 
sense,  — that  power  of  discrimination  which,  by  a sort  of  instinct, 
sees  things  as  they  are,  grasps  them  with  a keen  insight,  and 
escapes  the  vagaries  of  the  imagination  and  the  influence  of  the 
passions,  — the  power  out  of  which  proceed  good  judgment  and 
practical  skill,  the  confidence  of  men  and  public  and  private  au- 
thority. Then  there  was  an  inborn  energy  of  character,  a com- 
manding will,  a persistency,  self-reliance,  and  ability  to  work,  and 
a noble  ambition  out  of  which  strong  and  valorous  men  have 
grown.  There  was  a nice  observance  of  the  forms  of  society,  a 
refined  courtesy  of  manners,  a grace  of  utterance,  a rare  fluency 
of  speech,  a singular  power  of  combining  his  thoughts  and  mar- 
shalling his  words,  which  won  the  ear  and  commanded  the  atten- 
tion of  all  who  heard.  In  a word,  there  was  in  him  that  power 
and  disposition  to  excel,  that  ambition  to  act  widely  and  put  forth 
large  social  influences,  that  integrity  of  purpose,  that  reverence  for 
truth  and  right,  and  that  noble  desire  to  serve  his  day  and  genera- 
tion which  gained  for  him  a willing  adherence,  and  made  him  the 


24 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


leading  man  among  us.  He  who  had  studied  him  ever  so  superfi- 
cially, could  not  fail  to  recognize  these  among  his  prominent  traits. 

These  and  others  among  the  marked  features  of  his  character 
were  formed  and  developed  by  the  subtle  jiersuasions  of  that  home 
where  he  was  born,  and  in  which  he  was  reared,  and  which  could 
iot  but  leave  lasting  impressions  upon  all  who  came  within  its 
reach.  They  were  distinct,  and  they  were  life-long.  Moulded 
after  the  pattern  of  the  better  classes  of  New  England  homes,  it 
sent  forth  marked  New  England  influences.  I essav  to  bring  it 
back  in  imagination  in  the  vivid  colors  in  which  it  appeared  to  the 
boy  whose  lot  was  cast,  and  who  received  there  his  earliest  stamp 
upon  the  character.  I look  from  my  chamber  window  upon  a 
morning  like  this,  and  my  eyes,  with  the  utmost  stretch  of  vision, 
cannot  take  in  the  acres  which  are  around  and  make  a part  of  that 
home.  There  are  the  varied  labors  of  the  farm  and  the  household, 
each  in  their  season  — the  spring  sowing,  and  the  autumn  harvest 
ing  — the  latest  improvements  in  agriculture,  the  best  breeds  of 
horses  and  oxen  and  sheep,  the  varied  rural  sights  and  sounds 
which  cannot  fail  to  arouse  the  enthusiasm  and  form  the  life-long 
tastes  of  the  young  boy.  Wonder  you  that  he  grew  up  with  a love 
of  agricultural  pursuits,  which  no  length  of  years,  no  habits  of 
study,  no  political  successes  could  abate  — a love  that  has  brought 
a fresh  charm  as  his  days  have  worn  away  and  other  pleasures 
have  retired  ! 

This  home,  so  like  an  English  manor  in  its  dignity  and  hospi- 
tality and  the  variety  and  extent  of  its  occupations,  so  like  a New 
England  farm  in  the  homeliness  of  its  daily  employments,  exerted 
its  moulding  power.  The  father,  however,  a large  cultured  man, 
engaged  in  a large  practice  at  the  bar,  and  a leading  politician  in 
the  County  and  State;  and  the  mother,  burthened  with  the  mani- 
fold cares  of  the  household  of  which  modern  wives  and  mothers 
ai'e,  to  a great  extent,  relieved,  could  bestow  upon  their  son  but 
slight  attention ; and  yet  their  influence  upon  him  was  deep  and 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


25 


abiding.  Though  reared  from  his  childhood  in  public  and  private 
schools,  and  prepared  for  college  in  the  grammar  school  of  the 
town  ; from  his  father  he  acquired  those  refined  tastes,  that  am- 
bition to  excel,  and  that  yearning  after  the  occupations  and  excite- 
ments of  public  life  for  which  we  have  known  him — and  from  his 
mother,  those  habits  of  industry,  that  perseverance  and  conscien- 
tious devotion  to  truth  and  duty  which  were  characteristic  of  him, 
and  from  both  that  reverence  for  forms  which  Prescott  says  are 
“ guardians  of  liberty,”  and  that  courtesy  of  manners  “ which  pro- 
tects courtesy  of  heart.”  In  stating  the  influences  which  helped 
form  his  opinions  and  mould  his  early  habits,  I may  add  that  no 
one  contributed  more  than  my  venerable  predecessor  and  colleague, 
Dr.  Bancroft.  The  minister  of  his  youth,  the  confidential  adviser 
of  his  maturer  years,  the  faithful  friend  to  the  close  of  his  life,  his 
unconscious  power  over  him  was  very  great;  and,  in  consequence, 
Gov.  Lincoln’s  reverence  for  him  was  entire.  For  many  years  he 
used  to  be  one  of  a select  company  of  his  parishioners  that  sought 
him  in  his  home  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  labored  with  him  for  the 
interests  of  good  learning  in  the  town.  He  listened  with  ever  fresh 
interest  to  his  preaching,  felt  the  value  of  his  expositions  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  gratefully  acknowledged  the  worth  of  his  word,  and  life, 
and  character,  in  forming  his  own. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  Harvard  College,  and  became 
a member  of  the  class  so  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  the  college, 
of  which  Levi  Frisbie,  Samuel  Hoar,  Ichabod  Nichols,  and 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  were  also  members,  — a class  of  rare  ability, 
which,  in  rare  numbers,  in  after  years,  rose  to  eminence  and  did 
good  service  to  the  Commonwealth  and  the  country.  He  was  not 
distinguished  for  his  scholarshp,  but  he  was  distinguished  for  those 
sifts  and  attractions  for  which  we  have  known  and  revered  him. 
Though  the  youngest  of  his  class,  his  influence  over  others  was  not 
inferior  to  that  of  the  oldest.  The  fervid  eloquence  with  which  he 
then  could  speak,  the  kindness  and  courtliness  of  his  manners,  the 
4 


26 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


sincerity  of  his  attachment  to  his  associates,  all  drew  them  toward 
him.  He  loved  them  with  the  fresh  love  of  boyhood,  and  for  half 
a century,  year  after  year,  he  used  to  meet  them  with  rare, 
deepening  affection,  until  their  ranks  had  become  so  thinned  that 
the  meeting  gave  more  of  pain  than  of  pleasure.  And  now  of 
those  sixty  young  men,  gathered  together  in  the  fair  morning  of 
life,  in  the  college  halls,  entering  on  life’s  battles  so  bravely,  and 
hallowing  their  young  friendship  by  their  life-long  devotion,  only 
four  survive,  — James  T.  Austin,  Jacob  Newman  Knapp,  William 
Minot,  and  William  Allen,  infirm  old  men,  too  feeble  to  share  in 
the  last  offices  of  respect  for  their  companion,  not  the  least  dis- 
tinguished of  their  numbers^  It  is,  my  friends,  when  we  bring 
before  us  contrasts  like  these,  we  are  made  to  realize  the  frailty  of 
our  mortal  lives,  and  feel  the  beauty  and  sanctity  of  those  affec- 
tions, which  connect  us  heart  with  heart,  and  all  hearts  with  God. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Lincoln  chose  the  profession  of  the 
law,  entered  as  a student  his  father’s  office,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1805.  Eminently  fitted  for  the  profession,  fluent,  as 
we  have  intimated,  graceful,  self-possessed,  discriminating  in 
his  faculty,  quick  in  the  grasp  with  which  he  would  seize  the 
salient  points  of  a case,  and  thorough  in  his  preparation,  he  at 
once  took  the  first  rank  as  an  advocate ; business  more  than  he 
could  do,  flowed  in  upon  him  ; and  in  a few  years  he  was  the 
acknowledged  head  of  his  profession  in  the  county,  if  not  in  the 
Commonwealth.  I never  knew  him  simply  as  a lawyer.  I never 
heard  him  at  the  bar.  But  I have  heard  others,  after  the  lapse  of 
half  a century  of  years,  repeat  portions  of  his  arguments,  and 
quote  at  length  his  telling  words,  so  vivid  was  the  impression 
which  they  made.  His  style  was  strong  rather  than  ornate,  and 
modelled  more  after  that  of  Pitt  than  Curran.  Of  Pitt  it  has  been 
said,  he  had  not  much  of  pathos  and  but  little  play  of  fancy,  but 
“ his  eloquence  consisted  mainly  in  his  talent  for  sarcasm  and  for 
sounding  amplification.”  Air.  Lincoln  was  often  sharp  in  his 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


27 


[;  o i 


replies,  I am  told  ; and,  as  was  said  of  another  celebrated  Eng- 
lish advocate,  “ he  would  plunge  into  the  midst  of  a long,  compli- 
cated sentence  with  reckless  unconcern,  but  be  sure  to  find  his  way 
out  at  last.”  In  spite  of  the  apprehensions  he  would  awaken,  he 
was  a very  effective  speaker.  Nor  did  he  become  all  this  without 
intense  application.  He  has  often  told  me  of  the  overwhelming 
labor  which  his  successes  cost  him  ; how  he  would  watch  the  night 
out  in  the  study  of  his  cases,  and  then  go  in  the  morning  into  the 
court  room,  with  a throbbing  brain  and  sharp  sickness,  and  speak 
for  hours,  while  the  film  would  gather  over  his  eyes,  and  he 
would  reel  from  very  exhaustion ; and  yet  he  must  speak  on  — 
the  crowd  that  listened,  meanwhile,  unconscious  of  the  effort 
which  it  cost,  sitting  in  admiration  of  the  ease  and  grace  and 
power  of  his  speech.  Had  he  confined  himself  to  his  profession 
his  name  might  have  been  enrolled  among  the  most  eminent  of  our 
jurists,  — whose  associate  he  was  for  a brief  time,  — and  he  might 
have  contributed  with  the  ablest  of  them  to  build  up  our  judicial 
fabric. 

But  his  talents  and  tastes  led  him  to  another  kind  of  service. 
In  1812,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty,  only  seven  years  after  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  he  was  chosen  a member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Senate ; and  from  that  day  devoted  his  rare  gifts  to  the  Common- 
wealth and  the  country,  in  their  political  and  administrative  rela- 
tions. For  more  than  thirty-six  years  of  his  life  he  was  engaged 
in  public  duties,  passing  thus  in  succession  all  the  more  public 
offices  of  the  state,  — a member  and  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  a second  time  a member  and  President  of  the 
Massachusetts  Senate,  a member  of  the  Convention  to  revise  the 
Constitution,  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  for  nine  successive 
years,  a member  of  Congress,  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Boston, 
and  first  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Worcester.  With  the  last  office, 
which  he  held  in  1848,  he  ended  his  public  service  and  went  into 
retirement,  which  remained  unbroken,  except  in  a single  instance, 


MEMORIAL  OE  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


/ (i  ' ( li  U 0 7.  r 


)■  ( 


28 


when  he  was  chosen  with  the  body  of  Electors  to  cast  the  vote  of 
Massachusetts  for  President  of  the  United  States  four  years  ago ; 
and  he  spoke  of  the  pleasure  which  the  appointment  gave  him,  in 
the  opportunity  that  it  afforded  to  express  so  publicly  and  emphati- 
cally his  admiration  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  to  renew  the  intima- 
cies of  earlier  years  with  his  distinguished  colleagues. 

I have  referred  to  the  various  public  offices  held  by  Gov.  Lin- 
coln. But  when  I have  named  them  all  I have  scarcely  suggested  a 
tithe  of  the  service  which  he  has  rendered  us.  For  when  his  official 
duties  were  most  onerous,  he  never  shrunk  from  the  hard  labor  and 
careful  oversight  required  by  our  literary,  charitable,  and  religious 
institutions.  He  was  most  scrupulous  in  attending  their  appointed 
meetings,  and  always  ready  to  apply  his  clear  mind  to  the  little 
details  out  of  which  final  success  comes.  For  many  years  he  was 
one  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  College,  one  of  the 
Trustees,  and  President  of  the  Board  of  Leicester  Academy,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Worcester  County  Agricultural,  and  Vice-President  of 
the  American  Antiquarian  Society.  Indeed  we  could  scarcely  un- 
dertake and  pursue  any  great  enterprise,  touching  the  material  and 
spiritual  welfare  of  this  people,  without  him ; although  burthened 
with  the  cares  of  State,  he  would  give  himself  with  unrelaxing 
fidelity  to  the  examination  of  a district  school,  of  the  accounts  of 
a corporation,  or  the  ordinary  votes  of  a church.  Like  the 
builders  in  the  elder  days  of  art,  “ he  wrought  with  greatest  care 
each  minute  and  unseen  part.”  And  when  he  had  found  his  coveted 
retirement,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  he  did  not  find  idleness,  nor 
obtain  unbroken  I’est ; but  was  as  vigilant  over  the  public  interests, 
as  active  in  promoting  public  improvements,  in  enriching  and 
embellishing  the  city,  in  adding  to  the  happiness  of  the  living  and 
in  caring  for  the  final  repose  of  the  dead,  as  the  ablest  and  most 
devoted  among  us.  It  was  he  who,  through  his  official  influence, 
placed  our  State  Hospital  upon  yonder  eminence,  and  procured 
the  charters  for  the  earliest  Savings  Bank,  took  a prominent  part  in 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


29 


the  re-organization  of  our  public  schools,  and  gave  the  largest  im- 
pulse to  the  planting  of  shade  trees,  which  adorn  our  avenues  and 
make  our  city  so  inviting.  And  he  it  was  who  led  in  the  formation 
of  our  two  beautiful  cemeteries,  interpreted  for  us  their  sacred 
meaning  at  their  dedication,  and  has  watched  over  them  with  an 
interest  and  labored  for  them  with  a devotion  that  has  known  no 
weariness.  Only  during  the  present  year,  when  his  increasing 
infirmities  forbade  his  personal  supervision,  did  he  relinquish  his 
official  relation  to  them.  Indeed,  who  of  us  will  not  respond  with 
the  heart  to  the  language  of  eulogy,  addressed  by  Judge  Thomas 
to  the  members  of  the  Antiquarian  Society,  on  the  day  of  his 
burial.  “As  I came  home,”  he  says,  “ to  this  beautiful  city  and 
saw  it  in  the  freshness  and  beauty  and  glory  of  the  spring-time  — 
these  rounded  hills  — this  lovely  valley,  which  nature  and  art  had 
combined  to  make  attractive,  one  thing  was  wanting,  as  the  mate- 
rial wants  the  inspiration  of  the  spiritual.”  The  soul  of  all  this 
was  not  here. 

But,  my  friends,  it  is  little  to  say  of  one,  that  he  has  grown 
up  in  strength  and  gone  the  round  of  public  offices,  — it  is  little  to 
say,  that  the  circumstances  into  the  midst  of  which  he  was  thrown 
were  most  felicitous,  that  he  enjoyed  rare  opportunities,  if  we  may 
not  add  that  he  improved  his  opportunities,  and  was  faithful  to  his 
trusts.  Firmness,  energy,  integrity,  and  fidelity  in  his  public  and 
private  relations  were  the  most  conspicuous  traits  of  his  character. 
He  had  ambition  — “ that  infirmity  of  noble  minds  ; ” but  it  was, 
as  he  once  expressed  it  in  a favorite  quotation  to  a friend  many 
years  ago,  it  was  the  desire  to  have  “the  respect  of  the  good 
and  wise.”  He  loved  popular  esteem ; and  if  disappointment 
sometimes  gave  him  chagrin  and  awoke  a momentary  bitterness,  it 
never  betrayed  him  into  falseness  or  moral  weakness.  He  would 
stand  stoutly  for  the  right.  He  would  do  his  duty  though  friends 
should  forsake  and  enemies  revile,  and  the  whole  current  of 
popular  favor  run  against  him.  Here  lay  the  real  strength  of  the 


30 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


man ; and  this  was  the  reason  why  the  popular  vote  of  the  two 
great  parties  that  divided  the  Commonwealth  year  after  year  went 
for  him.  This  was  the  reason  why,  instead  of  being  dropped,  as 
others  have  been,  he  was  left  to  ask,  like  the  old  Roman  com- 
mander who  saved  his  country,  for  leave  to  retire  to  his  farm. 
The  people  had  seen  him  tempted,  flattered,  abused  ; but  they  had 
never  seen  him  weakly  yield  to  the  temptation,  the  flattery,  and 
the  abuse.  They  had  seen  him  resist  them  all,  — resist  the  power 
of  rich  corporations,  and  compel  them  by  his  veto  to  abstain  from 
the  wrong  when  vetos  were  not  common,  and  vindicate  on  one 
occasion,  at  least,  the  acts  of  his  political  opponents,  because  they 
were  just,  though  his  party  friends  opposed  and  scouted  his 
scrupulous  adherence  to  principle,  as  perverse.  But  the  con- 
spicuous act  of  his  public  life,  one  which  we  would  have  last 
forgotten,  was  his  nomination  of  the  chief  justice  of  the  Common- 
wealth. In  what  severe  contrast  does  it  stand  with  the  self- 
seeking,  weak  policy,  and  wavering  counsels  which  have  marked 
our  times,  and  brought  into  contempt  our  public  affairs.  Here  is 
a lesson  which  should  be  written  in  letters  of  gold,  and  which  we 
do  well  to  bring  home  to  our  hearts.  How  grand  the  illustration 
of  the  character  of  our  venerable  townsman  ! In  the  Hindoo  Vedas 
it  is  said  : “A  ruler  who  appoints  any  man  to  an  office  when  there 
is  another  man  in  his  dominions  better  qualified  for  it,  sins  against 
God  and  against  the  state.”  When  thirty-seven  years  ago  there 
was  a vacancy  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  appoint- 
ing power  was  vested  in  the  hands  of  our  revered  friend,  the  then 
governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  I well  remember  the  anxiety,  the 
expectation,  the  personal  feeling  which  agitated  the  public  mind  in 
respect  to  the  issue  of  the  appointment.  The  amiable  and  accom- 
plished Chief-Justice  Parker  had  just  gone  to  his  rest.  His  grace- 
ful form,  and  gentle  bearing,  and  chaste  eloquence  were  familiar 
among  men.  The  light  of  his  rare  intellect  was  quenched,  the 
garland  was  yet  fresh  on  his  grave  : and  who  should  be  selected  to 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


31 


fill  the  vacant  chair,  so  honored  and  so  hallowed,  was  the  great 
question  of  the  hour.  There  was  the  old  rule  of  succession.  It 
had  never  been  broken  but  in  a single  instance.  According  to  the 
rule,  the  office  clearly  belonged  to  the  senior  associate  judge ; 
powerful  interest  was  summoned  in  his  behalf,  — the  solicitations 
of  old  friends,  the  pleadings  of  ancient  intimacy,  the  wounds  of 
disappointed  expectation  which  never  could  be  healed,  — all  the 
interests  to  which  less  of  conscience  and  less  of  firmness  must  have 
yielded.  But  there  was  the  text,  old  as  the  Bible,  written  on  the 
faithful  Christian  heart  — “A  ruler  who  appoints  any  man  to  an 
office  'when  there  is  a better  man  in  his  dominion,  sins  against  God 
and  against  the  state.”  Lemuel  Shaw,  a simple  lawyer  in  Boston, 
was  believed  to  be  the  better  man,  and  was  appointed  to  the  place ; 
and  thirty  years  of  unwavering  fidelity  and  unmeasured  success, 
and  the  authority  of  the  judicial  reports  of  Massachusetts  all  over 
enlightened  Christendom,  have  justified  the  appointment.  My 
friends,  on  what  little  things  do  the  events,  the  successes  or  failures 
of  our  lives  depend  ! The  opportunity  comes  — there  is  the  pres- 
sure of  conflicting  and  opposing  influences.  The  choice  must  be 
made ; and  then  will  follow  the  life-long  satisfaction  or  the  life- 
long regret.  And  how  comforting  it  must  have  been  to  the  de- 
clining years  of  an  honored  life  to  know,  that  the  selection  made 
under  a sense  of  individual  responsibility,  or  the  strength  of  indi- 
vidual conviction,  and  in  spite  of  the  claims  of  personal  regard, 
and  of  the  urgency  of  interested  friends,  has  with  the  passing  time 
received  the  signal  approval  of  all  good  men,  and  won  dignity  and 
undying  honor  for  the  State. 

In  the  remarks  which  I submitted  to  you,  my  hearers,  when 
we  last  met  in  presence  of  a great  company  of  mourners,  and  of 
him  for  whom  they  mourned,  I spoke  of  a vital  religious  principle 
as  the  central  power  which  governed  his  life  and  prompted  the 
noble  acts  by  which  it  was  illustrated.  His  faith  in  the  acknowl- 
edged virtues  of  Christianity  was  sincere  and  unwavering,  and  the 


32 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


hearty  genuineness  and  consistency  of  his  life  the  legitimate  fruits 
of  his  conviction.  His  belief  in  the  supernatural  origin  of  our 
religion,  the  truth  and  grandeur  of  its  revelations,  the  supremacy 
of  its  authority,  the  worth  of  its  institutions  and  ordinances,  and 
the  soothing  and  refining  influences  of  its  spirit,  was  entire.  You 
remember,  you  cannot  have  forgotten,  the  affectionate  communica- 
tion "which  he  made  to  us  less  than  two  years  ago,  vindicating  the 
claims  of  this  religion  on  our  allegiance,  sympathy,  and  support,  — 
a communication  as  remarkable  for  the  tenderness  and  beauty  of 
its  language,  as  for  the  depth  and  sincerity  of  its  utterance, 
written  as  it  was  by  an  old  man  of  eighty-five  years.  “ The 
worship  of  God,”  he  says,  “is  the  impulse  of  a man’s  nature. 
Public  religious  service  is  the  very  need  of  society.  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  social  order  could  well  be  preserved  without  it. 
All  the  duties  of  life  are  best  performed  under  religious  sanctions. 
The  domestic  relations  demand  them.  The  administration  of 
government  and  law  is  sustained  by  them.  The  world  over, 
religious  observances  give  law  to  civilization,  and  individual  man 
cannot  dispense  with  them.  In  this  Christian  land,  the  bleeding 
heart  of  bereavement  and  affliction  will  not  be  content  without  the 
ministrations  of  religious  consolation,  nor  will  receive  comfort  and 
solace  from  those  with  whom  it  has  no  sympathy  in  religious  feel- 
ing and  sentiment.  The  pastoral  office  can  only  be  maintained  in 
connection  with  a preached  gospel,  and  those  who,  in  the  hour  of 
suffering  and  of  trial,  would  regard  the  communings  of  the  spirit 
with  the  deep  thoughts  of  the  future  and  the  infinite  as  the  most 
precious  enjoyment,  will  find  the  privation  of  opportunities  for  con- 
solation and  prayer  with  an  affectionate  and  beloved  guide, 
teacher,  and  friend,  the  most  deplorable  of  misfortunes.  The 
ministerial  office  is  for  more  purposes  than  the  public  ministrations 
of  the  pulpit.  Many  feel  its  influences  who  may  but  rarely  attend 
the  sendees  of  the  sanctuary.  The  aged,  the  feeble,  the  sick,  find 
in  the  good  pastor  the  most  welcome  of  visitants,  and  from  his 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


33 


counsels  and  instructions  derive  the  most  tender  and  soothing 
lessons  of  faith,  and  hope,  and  patient  submission.”  My  friends, 
now  that  the  mind  which  conceived  these  pregnant  words  is  gone, 
the  heart  that  prompted  them  has  ceased  its  beating,  and  the  hand 
that  wrote  them  moulders  in  the  dust,  shall  we  not  ponder  them 
once  more  as  the  legacy  of  our  aged  parishioner  to  this  congrega- 
tion that  he  loved?  Born  before  this  parish  was  formed, 
acquainted  with  the  venerable  men  by  whom  it  was  founded, 
familiar  with  its  history,  trained  amidst  its  benignant  influences,  its 
prosperity  was  dear  to  him,  and  he  watched  over  it  with  an  interest 
that  never  abated.  This  was  his  religious  home,  and  while  the 
strength  was  given  him  he  came  here,  summer  and  winter,  fore- 
noon and  afternoon,  as  to  the  place  of  his  rest.  Who  can  forget 
the  slender,  elastic  form,  unbent  by  age,  still  youthful  in  appear- 
ance, that  used  to  enter  so  habitually  these  portals  and  occupy 
yonder  pew  so  reverently,  scorning  the  conveyance  of  carriage,  or 
the  aid  of  staff,  always  making  on  foot,  with  light,  buoyant  step, 
his  Sabbath  day’s  journey?  Honor  to  the  man  who  could  com- 
prehend the  worth  of  these  religious  institutions,  who  hallowed  by 
his  observance  religious  services,  and  spared  no  pains,  no  labor, 
nor  sacrifice,  that  they  might  be  sustained. 

Nor  was  his  allegiance  to  our  religious  services  merely  formal, 
and  for  example’s  sake.  Though  he  attached  no  slight  importance 
to  this,  still  he  loved  them,  and  sought  their  hallowing  influence 
for  his  own  good,  because  he  felt  the  need  of  them  like  the  rest  of 
us.  Entering  upon  his  life’s  work  at  a time  when  society  was 
agitated  and  rent  by  religious  controversies,  an  admirer  of  Dr. 
r Channing,  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Dr.  Bancroft,  whose  trumpet 
uttered  no  uncertain  sound,  he  early  formed  his  religious  opinions, 
and  based  and  built  upon  them  his  religious  character.  They  were 
liberal,  well-defined,  and  deep;  and,  if  sometimes  impatient  of  the 
skepticism  and  vagaries  of  the  present  day,  they  were  held  without 
wavering,  and  maintained  with  a noble  consistency  and  a pure 
6 


34 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


faith  and  charity  that  are  of  the  heart.  He  revered  the  practices 
of  New  England,  and  held  to  the  simple  doctrines  in  which  he  had 
been  reared,  and  was  most  scrupulous  in  giving  public  testimony  to 
the  worth  of  his  belief,  when  others  under  like  circumstances  have 
been  false  and  faithless.  Though  he  was  fond  of  popular  esteem, 
and  would  do  much  to  secure  it,  he  never  would  be  untrue  to  his 
settled  convictions  for  the  sake  of  popular  impression.  When  he 
was  governor,  he  worshipped  at  Brattle  street,  in  Boston,  because 
his  predecessors  in  office  had  always  worshipped  there,  and  because 
the  broad  faith  maintained  there  and  the  liberal  practices  of  the 
church  were  most  consonant  with  his  own.  And  when  he  was  a 
member  of  congress,  in  Washington  he  did  not  attend  the  court 
services  of  the  capitol,  so  unsatisfactory  to  the  heart’s  reverence 
through  their  unhallowed  associations  ; nor  did  he  go  to  {lie  popular 
church  where  power  and  fashion  are  wont  to  throng ; but  he  would 
turn  from  these,  and  in  company  with  that  noble  man,  the  embodi- 
ment of  our  modern  puritanism,  John  Quincy  Adams,  seek  the 
plain,  uninviting,  neglected  meeting-house,  because  he  found  prin- 
ciples and  practices  there  most  in  harmony  with  those  for  which  he 
had  avowed  his  preference  at  home. 

But  I must  here  pause  and  bring  our  grateful  reminiscences 
to  a close.  Such  was  our  honored  and  revered  fellow-worshipper. 
“ He  died  in  a good  old  age,  full  of  days,  and  riches,  and  honor.” 
He  has  gone  to  join  that  goodly  company  of  cotemporaries,  neigh- 
bors and  friends,  who  once  filled  these  courts  and  gave  dignity  and 
influence  to  this  congregation.  I look  down  from  this  pulpit  upon 
the  spot  which  he  occupied  for  so  many  years,  and  search  for  the 
graceful  form,  the  marked  features  of  that  countenance,  and  that 
searching  look  that  once  gave  attention  and  encouragement  to  the 
preacher,  — and  he  is  not  there.  I extend  my  eye  down  the  aisle 
which  used  to  echo  with  his  footstep,  and  seek  for  his  old  com- 
panions and  fellow-worshippers,  those  who  sat  there,  before  and 
behind,  — a wonderful  body  of  men,  — and  they  are  not  there. 
And  when  I remember  who  and  what  friends  they  were  — as  true, 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


35 


and  kind,  and  devoted,  as  were  ever  accorded  to  any  man  — and 
now  look  upon  the  vacancy  no  more  to  be  filled  by  these  familiar 
shapes,  I am  appalled  at  the  spectacle ; and  were  it  not  for  the 
faith  which  I hold,  and  the  trust  in  God  which  we  have  learned 
here  together,  my  heart  would  break.  But,  Brethren,  when  I 
reflect  that  our  friends  have  gone  in  a good  old  age,  full  of  riches 
and  honor,  leaving  a finished  work  and  precious  memories  and  im- 
mortal hopes  behind  them,  I feel  that  we  can  only  utter  a voice  of 
cheerful  acquiescence  and  sing  a song  of  gratitude  to-day, — should 
pause  no  longer  than  to  gather  up  our  scattered  memorials,  and 
then  with  shoes  on  our  feet,  and  a staff  in  our  hand,  press  on  in 
our  journey.  For  they  who  have  helped  us  thus  far  by  their  liv- 
ing influence,  their  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  devotion,  will  help  us 
still.  Though  dead  they  will  yet  speak  to  us;  though  sleeping  in 
the  grave  they  will  assist  us  the  more  by  their  noble  example  and 
the  spirit  of  their  lives  which  they  have  left  behind. 

Why  weep  ye  then  for  him  who,  having  won 
The  bound  of  man’s  appointed  years,  at  last, 

Life’s  blessings  all  enjoyed,  life’s  labors  done, 

Serenely  to  his  final  rest  has  passed  ; 

While  the  soft  memory  of  his  virtues  yet 

Lingers  like  twilight  hues,  where  the  bright  sun  is  set  ? 

But,  Brethren,  while  we  cast  our  garlands  and  immortelles  on 
his  tomb,  we  will  not  forget  that  there  are  individual  bereavements 
here  hard  to  bear  and  bitter  to  the  soul.  The  hospitable  home  has 
been  overshadowed,  the  sacred  ties  of  the  household,  made  fast  by 
a hallowed  union  of  more  than  sixty  years,  have  been  rent,  and  the 
staff  for  leaning  upon  has  been  broken,  and  the  silver  bowl  at  the 
fountain  that  brought  refreshment,  has  been  dashed  in  pieces. 
Yield,  then,  dearly  beloved,  in  this  hour  of  God’s  visitation,  your 
heartfelt  sympathy  for  the  stricken,  and  offer  your  united  prayers 
that  the  light  of  God’s  truth  and  peace  may  shine  in  upon  the 
darkness,  and  out  of  the  trial  may  come  forth  a deeper  tranquillity 
and  more  disinterested  love,  and  a fuller  blessedness  for  us  all. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OP  THE 

COURT  AND  BAR. 


SUPREME  JUDICIAL  COURT.  — TRIBUTE  TO  EX- 
GOVERNOR  LINCOLN. 

The  adjourned  session  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  for  the 
trial  of  the  parties  in  jail  in  this  county  indicted  for  murder,  com- 
menced yesterday  afternoon. 

The  court  came  in  at  half-past  two  o’clock,  Chapman,  Ch.  J., 
and  Colt,  Foster,  and  Wells,  JJ.,  present. 

Preliminary  to  the  commencement  of  the  trials,  Hon.  Charles 
Allen,  Attorney  General,  presented  to  the  court  the  resolutions  of 
the  bar  of  this  county  on  the  death  of  Hon.  Levi  Lincoln  : 

Resolved , That  the  recent  death  of  the  Hon.  Levi  Lincoln,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  men  whose  names  are  found  on  the  rolls  of 
this  bar,  and  who  by  his  learning  and  great  ability  conferred  honor 
and  distinction  upon  the  profession  of  law,  affords  an  occasion  we 
cannot  allow  to  pass,  without  an  expression  of  our  high  appreciation 
of  his  life  and  character,  and  of  our  sorrow  that  we  shall  no  more 
see  his  venerable  form  among  us,  nor  hear  again  from  him  his 
accustomed  words  of  eloquence  and  wisdom. 

Resolved,  That  the  record  of  his  long:  and  honorable  career  of 
public  service  and  duty,  is  illustrated  by  the  highest  virtues  that 
ennoble  human  conduct ; that  he  was  a wise  and  safe  counsellor, 
an  eloquent  advocate,  a learned  judge,  a chief  magistrate  of  un- 
surpassed executive  ability,  accompanied  by  a courage  that  shrank 

(36) 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


37 


from  no  responsibility  or  duty  ; that  to  sustain  the  just  and  firm 
administration  of  the  criminal  law,  and  to  give  strength  to  the 
judiciary,  he  disregarded  the  claims  and  persuasions  of  friendship, 
and  looked  only  to  the  common  weal ; that  as  a legislator,  state 
and  federal,  he.  was  governed  by  the  principles  of  a broad  and 
patriotic  statesmanship,  and  never  surrendered  himself  to  the 
demands  of  mere  local  interests  or  narrow  partisanship  ; and  that 
so  long  as  eminent  talent,  never-failing  fidelity,  and  incorruptible 
integrity  are  deemed  virtues  in  public  life,  the  name  and  memory 
of  Levi  Lincoln  will  be  cherished  among  the  choice  possessions  of 
his  native  State,  and  of  the  whole  republic. 

Resolved , That  while  we  remember  with  admiration  those 
more  conspicuous  virtues  with  which  he  illustrated  the  many  high 
stations  of  public  trust  to  which  he  was  called,  we  can  never  forget 
the  less  conspicuous  virtues,  graces,  and  unrivalled  accomplish- 
ments, with  which  he  adorned  every  walk  of  private  life,  nor  those 
works  of  usefulness,  with  which  he  occupied  every  day  of  a serene 
and  honorable  old  age. 

Resolved,  That  the  Attorney  General  of  the  Commonwealth  be 
requested  to  present  these  resolutions  to  the  Supreme  Judicial 
Court,  at  its  special  session  to  be  held  in  this  county  on  Monday 
next,  with  the  request  that  they  be  entered  on  the  records  of  the 
court. 

Resolved,  That  the  clerk  be  requested  to  communicate  a copy 
of  these  resolutions  to  Mrs.  Levi  Lincoln,  with  the  respectful 
sympathy  of  the  bar. 

After  reading  the  resolutions,  the  Attorney  General  said  : 

May  it  please  your  Honors  : It  is  fitting  that  we  should  pause 
before  entering  upon  the  solemn  and  important  duties  which  have 
brought  us  together  to  pay  our  tribute  of  respect  to  the  illustrious 
dead. 


38 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEYI  LINCOLN. 


Within  the  past  year  this  bar  has  already  lost  one  among 
their  older  and  worthy  members  — the  venerable  Judge  Barton. 
On  the  occasion  of  his  last  appearance  before  your  Honors,  in 
October,  1865,  his  affecting  eloquence  in  discussing  a constitu- 
tional question  growing  out  of  the  war,  moved  many  to  tears,  and 
led  all  to  regret  that  he  would  so  seldom  leave  his  voluntary 
retirement  and  take  part  in  the  argument  of  causes  in  this  Court. 

And  now  to-day,  the  whole  Commonwealth  unites  with  the  bar 
and  people  of  this  county  in  paying  honors  to  the  memory  of  Gov. 
Lincoln.  The  present  generation  of  lawyers  do  not  remember  the 
time  when,  having  attained  the  high  honor  of  a seat  upon  the 
bench  of  this  Court,  he  was  called  from  the  profession  into 
political  life  by  the  spontaneous,  united  voice  of  the  whole  people. 
Yet  how  fondly  he  continued,  even  to  the  last,  to  linger  about 
these  halls  of  justice,  and  how  cordially  he  greeted  the  bench  and 
the  bar  upon  each  recurrence  of  the  annual  law  terms  of  this  Court, 
who  of  us  can  ever  forget? 

It  is  not  for  me  to  dwell  upon  his  life  and  character.  But 
when  the  history  of  the  admirable  bar  of  this  county  comes  to  be 
written,  (as  for  the  credit  of  the  Commonwealth  I trust  it  soon 
will  be,)  even  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time,  then  it  will 
partly  appear  how  much  they  are  indebted  for  the  proud  position 
which  they  have  always  occupied,  to  the  example,  and  teachings, 
and  influence  of  Levi  Lincoln. 

Fortunate  is  that  county  which  possesses  such  an  example, 
and  is  able  to  furnish  such  imitators. 

Felix  prole  virum. 

Laeta  deum  partu  : centum  complexa  nepotes. 

Omnes  coelicolas  omnes  supera  alta  tenentes. 

Hon,  Isaac  Davis  seconded  the  resolutions  in  some  remarks  of 
great  interest  and  appositeness,  and  was  -followed  by  Hon.  Henry 
Chapin,  who  spoke  briefly  but  with  much  feeling  and  eloquence. 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


39 


Hon.  Peter  C.  Bacon  then  rose  and  said  : 

Truly  a great  and  good  man  has  passed  away  — one  of  the 
greater  lights  has  been  extinguished — one  of  the  pillars  has  fallen. 
Governor  Lincoln  has  gone,  — we  shall  see  him  no  more  forever. 
We  can  hardly  appreciate  the  length  of  his  days.  He  constitutes 
the  link  not  only  between  this  generation  and  the  last,  but  between 
this  and  the  two  or  three  preceding.  A man  older  by  seven  years 
than  our  nation  (for  he  was  born  in  1782,  and  we  became  a na- 
tion in  fact  only  on  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  in 
1789),  he  lived  through  Shay’s  rebellion,  through  the  threatened 
if  not  actual  war  with  France,  through  the  second  war  with  Great 
Britain,  the  Mexican  war,  in  which  he  was  called  to  give  up  his 
brave  and  gallant  son,  and  his  later  years  were  saddened  by  the 
war  of  the  Great  Rebellion. 

Privileged  as  he  had  been  with  his  acquaintance  for  more  than 
forty  years,  — his  next  door  neighbor  for  more  than  a score  of 
years,  — having  known  him  as  a representative  in  Congress,  and 
in  all  his  official  life,  the  speaker  said  he  felt  it  fitting  that  he 
should  offer  some  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Governor  Lincoln. 

His  manners  were  elegant  and  courteous.  There  was  a no- 
bility about  his  person  and  carriage  that  language  cannot  express. 
I have  never  seen  it  equalled.  His  diction  was  admirable  beyond 
measure.  Most  felicitous  in  the  choice  of  words,  the  right  word 
was  always  in  the  right  place,  and  on  the  right  occasion.  I never 
saw  a man  who  had  such  an  appi'eciation  of  the  proprieties  of  life. 
No  man  could  appreciate  it  who  had  not  seen  him  on  a festive 
occasion.  The  speaker  remembered  one,  at  the  time  when  C.  J. 
Shaw  took  his  seat  on  the  bench,  at  which  Governor  Lincoln  pre- 
sided with  even  more  than  his  accustomed  grace  and  felicity.  He 
was  a man  of  remarkable  intelligence,  and  of  unbending  integrity. 
No  man  was  so  scrupulous  as  he  in  doing  just  what  was  right. 

He  was  always  kind,  always  courteous,  always  received  you 


40 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


in  such  a manner  that  you  regretted  you  had  not  oftener  availed 
yourself  of  his  hospitality.  Mr.  Bacon  said  it  had  not  been  his 
privilege  to  see  Governor  Lincoln  at  this  bar  in  the  trial  of  causes, 
though  as  a student  at  law  in  the  office  of  Governor  Davis  and 
Mr.  Allen,  he  became  familiar  with  the  reputation  which  he  left 
behind  on  his  entrance  into  public  life.  He  stood  from  the  first  at 
the  head  of  the  bar,  though  among  his  competitors  were  the  two 
Uphams,  the  three  Bigelows  (of  one  of  whom,  Timothy  Bigelow, 
a wmnderful  man,  it  was  said  that  when  a member  of  the  General 
Court  he  was  able,  on  the  second  morning  of  the  session,  to  call 
by  name  every  one  of  the  five  or  six  hundred  members),  Francis 
Blake,  and  John  Davis. 

The  reported  decisions  of  this  Court  show  where  he  stood. 
From  the  fifth  volume  to  the  twenty-third,  in  every  important  case 
his  name  appears  on  one  side  or  the  other.  That  he  did  so  much 
was  owing  to  his  industry  and  system. 

He  was  more  particularly  known  and  respected  as  a public 
man.  He  was  a popular  Governor,  not  in  the  common  accepta- 
tion of  the  term,  but  he  was  respected  because  he  did  in  every  case 
what  he  believed  was  for  the  public  good.  He  regarded  an  office 
as  a sacred  trust,  and  would  never  shrink  from  the  performance  of 
duty  whatever  might  be  the  consequence,  taking  no  thought  for 
the  criticism  of  friends  or  the  threats  of  enemies.  To  that  con- 
scientiousness we  owe  the  appointment  of  that  eminent  judge  who 
so  long  illustrated  this  bench.  It  is  well  known  that  he  had  to 
disregard  life-long  friendships. 

He  was  a friend  and  supporter  of  our  militia  system.  Soon 
after  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  the  war  spirit  died  out.  Gov- 
ernor Lincoln  protested  against  the  abandonment  of  the  militia, 
and  we  owe  it  more  to  him  than  to  any  other  man,  that  at  the  out- 
break of  this  war  we  had  an  organization  capable  of  doing  the 
country  some  service.  He  was  always  vigilant  — “we  quid  detri- 
menti  rcspublica  capiat." 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


41 


Mr.  Bacon  spoke  at  considerable  length,  and  with  great 
earnestness,  of  Gov.  Lincoln’s  zeal  and  labors  for  the  advancement 
of  learning,  for  the  prosperity  of  this  city  and  county,  and  of  his 
patriotism  and  faith  during  the  recent  Rebellion.  His  remarks 
were  very  impressive,  and  were  listened  to  with  great  interest. 

His  Honor,  0.  J.  Chapman,  responded  to  the  resolutions  of  the 
bar,  as  follows  : — 

The  court  have  listened  with  deep  interest  to  the  resolutions 
that  have  been  offered,  and  to  all  that  has  been  said  in  support  of 
them.  They  constitute  a well-deserved  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
one  who  has  lived  a long  life,  and  devoted  much  of  it  to  the  service 
of  the  public  in  honorable  and  eminent  positions,  and  closed  it  in 
circumstances  of  prosperity  and  peace ; and  who  has  left  behind 
him,  both  in  public  and  private,  the  record  of  an  unblemished 
character.  The  eulogies  that  have  been  bestowed  upon  him  recall 
to  our  minds  nothing  by  way  of  contrast,  that  we  could  desire  to 
blot  out  as  a stain  upon  his  memory.  And  this  is  much  to  say  of 
any  one  who  has  mingled  so  long  and  so  earnestly  in  public  and 
political  affairs. 

Before  I knew  much  of  this  court  he  had  left  it,  and  had  left 
behind  him  a high  reputation  as  an  eloquent  advocate,  and  an 
upright,  courteous,  and  able  judge,  and  had  become  the  Governor 
of  the  Commonwealth.  He  had  been  elected  to  that  office,  not  by 
a party,  but  by  the  people  of  all  parties,  to  represent  them  in  what 
is  still  known  as  “the  era  of  good  feeling”  in  politics.  He  was 
a fit  representative  of  the  policy  of  such  an  era.  Not  only  was  his 
integrity  above  suspicion,  but  he  was  animated  by  a spirit  of  im- 
partial good  will  and  a regard  for  the  welfare  of  all.  It  cost  him 
no  effort,  therefore,  to  administer  the  government  of  the  State  for 
the  equal  benefit  of  all  the  people.  History  will  make  honorable 
mention  of  his  name,  and  class  him  among  those  governors  of 
6 


42 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


States  who  have  administered  our  republican  institutions  in  their 
true  spirit. 

When  his  services  were  transferred  from  the  councils  of  the 
State  to  the  councils  of  the  nation,  he  soon  acquired  a national 
reputation  as  a high-minded  statesman.  After  he  retired  from 
political  life  lie  continued  to  be  known  throughout  the  Common- 
wealth, especially  as  a promoter  of  learning  and  of  agricultural 
industry.  Even  in  advanced  age  he  was  not  forgotten,  and  did 
not  sink  into  obscui'ity.  He  has  received  repeated  testimonials  of 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  public,  and  in  his  old  age  the 
sentiment  of  respect  ripened  into  a sentiment  of  veneration. 

We  do  well  to  honor  the  memory  of  such  men;  for  the 
example  and  influence  of  great  and  good  men  is  public  property, 
and  is  among  the  richest  treasures  that  the  State  possesses.  Their 
influence  continues  to  live  in  the  very  soil  and  atmosphere ; and  in 
after  times  those  who  dwell  upon  the  same  soil,  and  breathe  the 
same  air,  feel  this  influence  as  an  elevating  power.  It  is  especially 
becoming  in  the  bar  and  the  bench  to  place  on  record  a testimony 
of  their  appreciation  of  such  a man  as  Governor  Lincoln.  The 
resolutions  will  be  placed  on  record,  agreeably  to  the  motion. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 

AMERICAN  ANTIQUARIAN  SOCIETY. 


At  a meeting  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  held  at 
their  rooms  in  Worcester,  Tuesday  morning,  the  President,  lion. 
Stephen  Salisbury,  delivered  a eulogy,  rehearsing  the  services 
rendered  and  the  offices  held  in  the  society  by  the  deceased,  and  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted  : — 

Resolved,  That  we  consider,  with  sorrow  and  deep  concern, 
that  a pillar  which  has  sustained  our  association  for  fifty-six  years 
has  been  removed  by  the  providence  of  God,  in  the  death  of  our 
senior  vice-president,  who  was  the  survivor  of  our  fathers,  named 
in  our  act  of  incorporation,  and  who  was  second  only  to  our 
honored  founder,  Dr.  Josiah  Thomas,  in  his  good  works  and  good 
influences  for  the  prosperity  of  our  society. 

Resolved , That  we  will  cherish  the  memory  of  our  revered 
associate  in  his  many  good  examples,  in  his  wrise  liberality  and 
watchful  exertions  to  promote  the  common  objects  of  which  we 
have  here  assumed  the  responsible  care ; in  his  devoted  and  pro- 
gressive patriotism;  in  his  punctual,  earnest,  and  unsparing  labors 
for  the  furtherance  of  every  good  object,  whether  it  was  deemed 
great  or  small;  in  the  agreeable  courtesy,  the  ready  sympathy, 
and  the  never-forgotten  dignity,  which  made  his  presence  welcome 
in  all  his  social  intercourse ; in  his  purity  of  life  and  his  consci- 
entious regard  of  Christian  observances  ; in  his  fearless  vindication 

(43) 


44 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


of  the  right  and  the  true,  and  in  the  root  and  source  of  his  noble 
character,  his  Christian  fidelity. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  mourn  for  ourselves,  we  contemplate 
with  joy  and  hope  the  departure  of  our  friend,  who  at  the  end  of 
his  active  usefulness  on  earth  has  so  passed  the  bounds  of  time ; 
and  as  he  verified  in  life  the  promise  that  he,  “ who  hath  been 
faithful  over  a few  things,  shall  be  ruler  over  many  things,”  we 
trust  in  the  mercy  of  God  that  he  has  received  the  welcome 
annexed  to  that  promise,  “ Enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord.” 

Resolved,  That  we  offer  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  her  children  our 
sincere  sympathy  in  their  great  loss,  and  we  commend  them  to  the 
consolation  of  grateful  memories  and  Christian  hopes. 

Resolved,  We  will  express  our  respect  for  our  distinguished 
associate  by  attending  his  funeral  as  a society. 

Resolved,  That  a copy  of  this  memorial  be  communicated  to 
Mrs.  Lincoln  by  the  recording  secretary. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 

DIRECTORS  OF  WORCESTER  NATIONAL  BANK. 


At  a special  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors,  called  to  take 
action  in  reference  to  the  decease  of  the  senior  director,  the  follow- 
ing preamble  and  resolutions,  offered  by  the  vice-president,  were 
unanimously  adopted  : 

Inasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God  to  receive  into  his 
nearer  presence  our  venerated  and  distinguished  associate,  the 
Honorable  Levi  Lincoln,  who  has  been  connected  with  the  direc- 
tion of  this  bank,  excepting  the  few  years  while  public  duty 
required  his  absence  from  this  place  of  his  residence,  since  his  first 
election,  October  3d,  1810  — 

Resolved,  That  it  is  fitting  that  to  the  records  of  the  bank, 
which  bear  so  full  and  so  constant  testimony  to  the  faithfulness 
with  which  he  has  discharged  the  duties  imposed  upon  him  by 
these  several  generations  of  stockholders,  during  the  long  period  of 
fifty-eight  years,  should  now  be  added  the  grateful  tribute  to  his 
memory,  which,  as  their  representatives,  we  desire  to  express. 

We  recall  with  pride  the  many  high  positions  he  has  filled  in 
the  service  of  the  State,  and  of  this  city  of  his  birth,  and  that  this 
more  private  office  has  been  adorned,  and  the  name  of  this  ancient 
corporation  more  respected  by  his  association  with  its  history. 

In  his  exertions  to  secure  a continuance  of  its  charter,  in  the 
early  years  of  his  directorship,  we  see  the  same  sagacious  foresight 
and  readiness  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  people  of  all  classes, 
in  this  county,  that  he  has  ever  manifested  through  all  the  years  of 
his  service. 


(45) 


46 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


We  bear  our  testimony  to  his  willingness,  in  latter  years,  to 
render  the  aid  of  the  bank  to  all  enterprises  which  have  advanced 
the  growth  and  the  wealth  of  this  community  ; to  his  judicious 
liberality  in  granting  its  accommodations  to  honest  and  deserving 
business  men ; and  to  his  wise  counsels  and  energetic  action  in 
times  of  civil  commotion,  or  of  monetary  panic  and  mercantile 
distress. 

We  remember,  affectionately,  the  urbane  dignity,  combined 
with  genial  suavity,  which,  at  this  board,  as  everywhere,  com- 
manded the  reverence  due  to  age,  while  it  permitted  the  freedom 
and  sympathy  of  his  younger  associates.  And  we  mourn  that  he 
will  meet  with  us  no  more. 

We  rejoice  that  his  gradual  decline  and  his  last  illness  have 
been  attended  with  little  suffering,  and  with  scarcely  abated  mental 
vigor ; and  that  he  has  passed  away  as  he  would  have  wished  to 
go,  with  the  consciousness  of  a long  life’s  work  well  done,  and 
awaiting  the  summons  hence  “ as  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of 
his  couch  about  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams.” 

We  commend  his  example,  of  patient  fidelity  in  all  the  duties 
of  life,  however  lofty  or  however  humble,  to  our  own  remem- 
brance, to  the  young  men  who  are  officially  connected  with  the 
bank,  and  to  all  who  shall  come  after  us  in  its  management  or  its 
service. 

And  we  offer  to  Madam  Lincoln,  and  to  the  family  of  our  late 
associate,  the  assurance  of  our  tender  respect  for  his  memory,  and 
of  our  sincere  sympathy  with  them  in  their  bereavement. 

Resolved , That  the  bank  be  closed  on  the  day  of  the  funeral, 
and  that  the  directors  and  officers  will  attend  the  funeral  services. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  entered  upon  the  records 
of  the  Worcester  National  Bank,  and  that  the  cashier  be  directed 
to  transmit  a copy  thereof  to  the  family  of  Governor  Lincoln. 

From  the  records. 

A copy.  Attest : CHARLES  B.  WHITING, 

Cashier. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 

BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  ASSOCIATION. 


The  undersigned,  a committee  appointed  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association,  held  on  the  lTth  instant, 
to  propose  resolutions  in  honor  of  the  memory  of  the  late  Ex-Gov- 
ernor  Lincoln,  report  the  enclosed,  as  the  result  of  their  action 
on  the  subject. 

THOMAS  ASPINWALL, 
JAMES  W.  SEVER, 

F.  W.  LINCOLN,  Jr. 

Boston,  June  22,  1868. 

The  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association,  sharing  in  the  ear- 
nest desire  of  the  whole  community  to  pay  signal  honor  to  the 
memory  of  the  Honorable  Levi  Lincoln,  late  a member,  and 
formerly  president  of  the  association,  have 

Resolved , That  this  association  is  justly  proud  that  his  dis- 
tinguished and  revered  name  stands  upon  our  rolls ; and  we  avail 
ourselves  of  this  occasion  to  express  our  grateful  remembrance  of 
his  services  in  this  body,  and  also  of  his  exact  and  conscientious 
fulfilment  of  all  duties,  domestic,  social,  or  public,  throughout  a 
long  life,  constantly  and  wisely  devoted  to  the  diffusion  of  happi- 
ness among  those  around  him,  and  to  the  promotion  of  the  best 
and  truest  interests  of  his  State  and  country. 

Resolved , That  in  all  civil  stations,  whether  in  a judicial 

(47) 


48 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


capacity,  in  the  State  or  national  legislature,  or  in  the  chief 
magistracy  of  our  own  Commonwealth,  in  which  he  was  placed  and 
constantly  sustained  by  well-merited  public  favor,  his  conduct  was 
uniformly  guided  by  pure,  generous,  and  elevated  sentiments  and 
principles,  combined  with  a profound  sense  of  moral  obligation  that 
allowed  no  sacrifice  of  the  public  welfare  to  mere  personal  or  party 
considerations. 

In  his  life  and  character,  perhaps  as  nearly  exempt  from  faults 
as  erring  humanity  admits  of,  he  has  left  an  example  to  be  fol- 
lowed, a valuable  legacy  for  the  instruction  and  guidance  of  those 
who  survive  him,  and  of  generations  to  come. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  placed  upon  the  records  of 
the  association,  and  a copy  thereof  be  forwarded  to  the  family  of 
the  deceased,  with  the  expression  of  our  sincere  sympathy  in  their 
bereavement. 

A true  copy. 

Attest : S.  F.  McCLEARY, 

Secretary  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association. 


THE  FOLLOWING  ARTICLE, 


WRITTEN  BY 

DELANO  A.  GODDARD,  Esq.  (formerly  of  Worcester,) 

IS  TAKEN  FROM  THE 

BOSTON  DAILY  ADVERTISER. 


Ex-Governor  Levi  Lincoln  died  at  his  residence  in  Worcester, 
Friday  morning,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years.  Pie  had  suffered 
from  failing  health,  more  perceptible  to  himself  than  to  others,  for 
two  years  past.  But  his  remarkable  vitality,  which  had  so  long 
spared  him  the  usual  infirmities  of  old  age,  still  enabled  him  to 
bear  the  approaches  of  disease  without  appearing  to  yield  to  them. 
He  was  confined  to  his  house  but  a few  weeks,  where  he  continued 
to  give  those  who  saw  him  the  impression  of  health  not  greatly 
impaired,  until  near  the  last,  when  he  fell  into  a more  rapid 
decline,  and  passed  away  about  seven  o’clock  on  Friday  morning. 
His  death  removes  one  of  the  last  of  a generation  of  public  men 
who  in  the  first  half  of  this  century  gave  to  the  political  history  of 
Massachusetts  its  distinction  and  its  character ; and  among  whom 
Governor  Lincoln,  during  the  whole  active  period  of  his  life, 
exercised  a conspicuous  influence  in  positions  of  eminent  usefulness 
and  honor. 

He  inherited  from  his  distinguished  father  a singular  capacity 
for  public  affairs,  which  he  had  ample  opportunity  to  cultivate 
under  the  influence  of  fortunate  associations  into  which  he  was 

(49) 


7 


50 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEYI  LINCOLN. 


early  thrown.  The  elder  Lincoln,  the  third  son  of  Enoch  Lincoln, 
of  Hingham,  pushed  his  own  fortunes  with  great  success,  selecting 
under  the  inspiration  of  the  eloquence  of  John  Adams  the  pro- 
fession in  which  he  became  eminent,  taking  part  with  manly  enthu- 
siasm in  the  discussions  and  events  of  the  Revolution,  contributing 
by  tongue  and  pen  to  the  formation  of  the  public  opinion  which 
sustained  the  cause  in  its  adversity,  and  brought  order  out  of  the 
chaos  which  immediately  followed  the  war.  He  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession  at  Worcester  in  1775,  when  John  Sprague,  of 
Lancaster,  and  Joshua  Upham,  of  Brookfield,  were  the  only 
lawyers  whom  the  violent  changes  of  the  period  left  at  the  bar  of 
the  county,  — the  rest  having  deserted  the  country  or  been  driven 
from  their  homes.  His  superior  talents  and  address  not  only 
opened  the  way  at  once  to  a lucrative  practice,  but  singled  him  out 
for  the  public  service.  He  passed  successively  through  nearly  all 
the  grades  of  public  duty,  devoting  himself  at  the  same  time  to  the 
requirements  of  his  profession,  and  in  the  intervals  of  his  absorbing 
labor  contributing  to  the  journals  the  most  effective  controversial 
papers  on  the  topics  of  the  day.  On  the  accession  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son to  the  presidency,  he  was  called  from  the  Seventh  Congress,  of 
which  he  was  a member,  to  a seat  in  the  cabinet  as  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States.  He  was  subsequently  Counsellor, 
Lieutenant-Governor,  and,  upon  the  death  of  Governor  Sullivan, 
Governor  of  Massachusetts.  He  enjoyed  not  only  the  intimacy  and 
warm  personal  friendship  of  Jefferson,  but  was  consulted  by  the 
foremost  men  of  the  nation  under  the  administrations  of  Adams 
who  preceded,  and  of  Madison  who  followed  him. 

The  younger  Lincoln  was  born  on  the  25th  of  October, 
1782;  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1802;  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  and  began  the  practice  of  law  in  his  native  town 
three  years  later;  was  a member  of  the  State  Senate  in  1812,  and 
from  1814  to  1822  represented  the  town  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives ; was  a member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


51 


1820 ; was  Speaker  of  the  House  in  1822,  when  a majority  of  the 
members  were  opposed  to  him  in  political  sentiments ; was 
Lieutenant-Governor  in  1823  ; Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  1824 ; Governor  from  1825  to  1834 ; Representative  in 
Congress  from  1835  to  1841  ; Collector  of  the  port  of  Boston 
under  President  Harrison ; and  subsequently  in  various  places  of 
duty  and  service  for  the  State  and  the  city  to  which  he  belonged. 
But  this  catalogue  of  official  titles  and  dates  gives  only  the  husks 
of  his  real  service.  He  was  profoundly  interested  in  the  political 
questions  involved  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  drew,  and  with 
Benjamin  Crowinshield,  presented  the  answer  of  the  Senate  of  that 
year  to  the  speech  of  Governor  Strong,  who  represented  those  who 
were  hostile  to  the  war.  Two  years  later,  when  a member  of  the 
other  branch  of  the  legislature,  he  wrote  the  famous  protest  of  the 
minority  to  the  act  authorizing  the  Hartford  Convention.  He  was 
thus  separated  from  the  large  number  of  able  men  who  participated 
in  that  movement ; but  his  sagacity  was  approved  by  his  constitu- 
ents, and  the  controlling  sentiment  of  the  State  was  soon  on  his 
side.  In  the  convention  of  1820,  which  contained  the  flower  of 
the  talent  of  the  Commonwealth,  others  bore  a more  active,  but 
none  a more  creditable  part.  He  spoke  without  ornament  or  pre- 
tension, always  with  clearness  and  to  the  point.  He  belonged  at 
that  time  to  the  advance  guard,  and  whatever  promised  improve- 
ment in  a reasonable  and  enlightened  way,  excited  his  sympathy 
and  commanded  his  aid. 

The  period  during  which  he  administered  the  State  govern- 
ment is  often  referred  to  as  one  of  the  highest  political  felicity. 
He  was  chosen  by  the  concurrence  of  all  parties,  when  the  singular 
desire  prevailed  that  the  best  men  should  be  selected  for  office 
without  reference  to  names  that  had  lost  their  meaning.  It  was 
common  to  address  the  calls  for  local  meetings  to  “ all  who  were  in 
favor  of  the  unanimous  election  of  Lincoln  and  Morton  ; ” and,  in 
theory  at  least,  reference  was  had  to  the  old  divisions  only  so  far 


52 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEYI  LINCOLN. 


as  to  see  that  the  sensitiveness  of  neither  party  was  wounded  by  neg- 
lect in  the  distribution  of  favors.  Where  the  memory  of  the  old  his- 
torical associations  lingered  behind  the  march  of  events,  and  candi- 
dates were  chosen  with  reference  to  them,  as  continued  to  be  the  case 
to  an  extent  which  made  the  judicious  grieve,  the  selection  had  no 
bearing  upon  particular  measures  to  be  carried  out.  But  whatever 
local  diversions  occurred,  Governor  Lincoln  kept  the  confidence  of 
the  people  year  after  year,  and  year  after  year  commanded  their 
nearly  unanimous  support.  New  parties  sprung  into  existence ; 
but  the  initiative  of  opposition  to  the  governor  was  a step  too  bold 
to  be  taken.  Questions  of  internal  policy  divided  the  opinions  of 
the  Commonwealth,  upon  which  the  governor  held  no  doubtful 
opinions.  But  when  election  day  came  round,  the  dissenters 
buried  their  griefs  and  helped  to  swell  the  current  of  public  ap- 
proval. And  when  he  retired  from  the  office  it  was  the  universal 
testimony  that  Massachusetts  had  never  had  a better  chief  magis- 
trate. He  never  hesitated  to  assume  the  proper  responsibility  of 
his  office  ; was  not  in  the  habit  of  qualifying  his  own  views  of  par- 
ticular measures,  as  in  the  controversy  about  manufacturing  cor- 
porations and  the  introduction  of  the  railroad  system  into  Massa- 
chusetts against  an  opposition  which  at  this  time  seems  scarcely 
credible  ; was  scrupulously  careful  of  the  dignity  of  his  station, 
but  by  his  urbanity  and  condescension  made  himself  accessible  to 
every  citizen;  and  managed,  in  the  midst  of  conflicting  opinions, 
to  give  satisfaction  to  all  parties,  and  make  the  people  see  that 
their  affairs  were  attended  to  in  precisely  the  manner  in  which  they 
wished  to  have  them  discharged. 

Mr.  Lincoln’s  retirement  from  public  life  was  not  made  an 
excuse  for  abandoning  labor,  where  his  experience,  judgment,  and 
unimpaired  energy  could  be  of  service.  When  the  town  of  Wor- 
cester became  a city  in  1848,  the  first  citizen  was  naturally  selected 
as  the  first  mayor,  and  its  requirements  were  met  with  unfailing 
zeal  and  fidelity.  He  took  a warm  personal  interest  not  only  in 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


53 


institutions  designed  for  the  benefit  of  the  living,  but  in  the  resting- 
places  for  the  dead.  He  devoted  time,  thought,  and  care,  not 
only  to  learned  and  charitable  societies  to  which  he  belonged,  but 
with  equally  assiduous  zeal  gave  his  best  efforts  to  surrounding 
with  appropriate  beauty  the  grounds  where  his  neighbors  and 
friends  might  sleep  hereafter.  He  was  for  many  years  president 
of  the  Worcester  Agricultural  Society,  a regular  exhibitor  at  its 
annual  fairs,  and  a constant  friend  of  the  agricultural  interests  of 
the  Commonwealth.  He  was  a Fellow  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences,  a member  and  counsellor  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  and  a member  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society.  Harvard  University  and  Williams  College  each  conferred 
on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  He  also  served  as  officer 
or  counsellor  of  many  other  associations  for  literary,  educational, 
or  charitable  purposes.  He  kept  to  the  last  a liberal  and  watchful 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  community  where  he  resided,  and 
whose  respect  he  enjoyed.  The  last  office  of  a public  nature  which 
he  consented  to  perform  was  to  give  one  of  the  electoral  votes  of 
Massachusetts  for  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1864,  when  the  exigencies 
of  the  country  seemed  to  have  renewed  his  youth,  and  to  have 
stimulated  anew  the  patriotism  which  neither  time  nor  his  long 
retirement  from  its  affairs  had  begun  to  extinguish. 

The  good  fortune  which  seemed  to  wait  on  him  in  the  earlier, 
continued  with  him  through  the  later  period  of  his  life.  The  hand 
of  time  rested  lightly  on  him  ; and  till  the  sharp  warning  came  to 
remind  him  of  the  change  he  was  approaching,  he  preserved  an 
elasticity  of  mind  and  body  suggestive  of  perpetual  youth.  He 
had  the  happiness  also  of  receiving,  wherever  he  went,  the  visible 
manifestations  of  the  respect  of  a generation  with  whom  the  active 
period  of  his  own  life  was  little  more  than  a tradition.  The  con- 
troversies in  which  he  had  borne  no  indifferent  part  were  forgotten  ; 
and  his  fellow-citizens  only  remembered  his  eminent  public  serv- 
ices, his  faithful  attention  to  the  duties  of  a good  citizen,  and  the 
excellencies  of  his  Christian  character. 


THE  FOLLOWING  ARTICLE, 


WRITTEN  BY 


HON.  CHARLES  C.  HA  SEWELL, 

IS  COPIED  FROM 

THE  BOSTON  JOURNAL. 


DEATH  OF  EX-GOVERNOR  LINCOLN. 

Massachusetts  has  lost  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  her  sons, 
through  the  death  of  Levi  Lincoln,  at  the  very  advanced  age  of 
eighty-five  years.  He  died  at  Worcester  on  Friday,  after  a brief 
illness.  Mr.  Lincoln  belonged  to  a family  which  has  been  dis- 
tinguished for  a century  by  the  talents  of  many  of  its  members, 
and  the  eminence  of  their  public  services.  His  father,  Levi 
Lincoln,  a distinguished  statesman  of  the  first  age  of  the  Republic, 
was  born  at  Hingham,  in  “ the  Old  Colony,”  in  1749.  Through 
his  own  exertions  he  obtained  a regular  education,  and  was  grad- 
uated in  Harvard  College  in  1772,  with  high  honors.  He  chose 
the  law  for  his  profession,  and  was  studying  for  the  bar  in  the 
office  of  the  celebrated  Joseph  Hawley  of  Northampton,  when 
the  Revolutionary  war  began,  at  Lexington,  upon  which  he 
volunteered,  and  served  for  some  time  with  the  army  that  finally 
drove  the  English  from  Boston.  He  selected  Worcester  for  his 
residence,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1775,  and  immediately 
attained  to  distinction.  In  1778  he  conducted  the  defence  of  Mrs. 
Bethsheba  Spooner  and  others,  who  were  tried  and  convicted  on 
the  charge  of  murdering  Mrs.  Spooner’s  husband.  This  was  the 
first  capital  trial  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  there  has 
been  nothing  in  our  criminal  history  like  it  since.  It  is  the  most 
sensational  of  all  our  celebrated  causes,  and  the  history  of  it  can 

(54) 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


55 


even  now  be  read  with  painful  interest.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  a hope- 
less case  on  his  hands,  and  he  knew  it ; but  he  contended  manfully 
and  ably  for  his  clients,  showing  great  ingenuity  and  power  of  argu- 
ment. The  manuscript  notes  of  his  plea  are  yet  in  existence.  An 
active  patriot,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  novv  called  to  office.  He  was 
made  Judge  of  Probate,  and  chosen  a delegate  to  the  convention 
which  made  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts.  He  served  in  the 
Legislature,  and  was  elected  to  the  Continental  Congress,  but 
declined  the  latter  post.  He  was  a member  of  both  branches  of 
the  Legislature  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1800.  In  1801  he  received 
the  appointment  of  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  from 
President  Jefferson,  and  held  the  office  until  1805,  when  he  volun- 
tarily left  it.  Chosen  a State  Councillor  of  Massachusetts  in  1806, 
and  Lieutenant-Governor  in  1807  and  1808,  he  became  Governor 
in  the  latter  year,  on  the  death  of  Governor  Sullivan.  In  1811 
President  Madison  made  him  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  but  the  state  of  his  health  did  not 
allow  of  his  accepting  the  station.  The  remainder  of  his  life  was 
passed  in  retirement,  and  was  devoted  to  agriculture  and  study. 
He  died  on  the  14th  of  May,  1820. 

Mr.  Lincoln  married  Miss  Waldo,  daughter  of  a distinguished 
citizen  of  Boston,  in  1781.  The  eldest  son  of  this  marriage  was 
the  gentleman  just  deceased.  He  was  born  in  Worcester  on  the 
25th  of  October,  1782.  At  twenty-one  he  was  graduated  at 
Harvard  College,  and  selected  his  father’s  profession,  studying  in 
his  office  until  1805,  and  commencing  professional  life  that  year 
at  Worcester.  He  became  an  ardent  politician,  and  was  a rec- 
ognized leader  of  the  Jeffersonian  Democratic  party,  which  was 
successful  on  several  occasions  in  Massachusetts  in  those  days, 
the  State  voting  for  Mr.  Jefferson’s  re-election,  and  later,  electing 
Mr.  Sullivan  and  Mr.  Gerry  to  the  Governorship.  In  1812  he 
was  a member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  and  drew  up  the 


56 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


answer  of  that  body  to  the  speech  of  Governor  Strong.  Party 
spirit  then  ran  very  high,  and  Governor  Strong  stood  at  the  head 
of  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  war  with  Great  Britain.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  a firm  supporter  of  the  war,  and  opposed  the  course 
of  the  majority  here  with  indomitable  courage,  but  always  main- 
tained the  courtesies  of  political  warfare.  He  was  elected  a member 
of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  in  1814,  the  ses- 
sion of  which  year  was  the  most  remarkable  one  in  our  legislative 
history.  The  Hartford  Convention  was  then  resolved  upon  by 
our  Legislature.  Mr.  Lincoln  vigorously  opposed  this  project, 
but  the  Federalists  were  overwhelmingly  strong  and  carried  their 
point.  He  then  drew  up  the  well-known  protest  against  that 
Convention,  which  was  signed  by  seventy-six  members.  This 
paper  was  published,  and  sent  to  every  part  of  the  country ; and 
it  had  the  effect  of  gaining  for  its  author  a national  reputation. 
He  continued  to  serve  in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  several 

years,  until  the  close  of  1822.  In  his  last  year  he  was  chosen 

Speaker,  though  the  majority  of  the  members  were  opposed  to 
him  in  political  opinions,  a tribute  of  respect  that  is  vex-y  seldom 

paid  to  a public  man  in  America.  No  man  ever  left  behind 

him  a higher  reputation  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  than 
the  second  Levi  Lincoln. 

A constitutional  convention  was  called  in  1820,  to  revise  the 
State  Constitution,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  chosen  one  of  the  dele- 
gates from  Worcester.  His  colleagues  were  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Edward  D.  Bangs.  He  was  one  of  the  most  prominent 
members  of  the  Convention,  and  ever  supported  liberal  doctrines 
or  liberal  measures,  as  a delegate ; and  some  of  the  wisest  changes 
made  in  the  State  Constitution  were  largely  due  to  his  influence 
and  exertions.  Some  of  his  remarks  on  representation  were  quite 
as  advanced  as  anything  that  is  known  at  the  present  day.  In 
the  debate  on  the  apportionment  of  the  Senate,  held  on  the  13th 
of  December,  1820,  he  said  — “Our  government  is  one  of  the 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


57 


people,  not  a government  of  property.  Representation  is  founded 
on  the  interests  of  the  people.  It  is  because  they  have  rights 
that  they  have  assumed  the  power  of  self-government.  Property 
is  incompetent  to  sustain  a free  government.  In  a government  of 
freemen,  property  is  valuable  only  as  the  people  are  intelligent. 
'Were  it  not  for  a government  of  the  people,  the  people  would  be 
without  property.  But  it  is  contended  that  this  system  is  justified 
by  another  principle.  Representation  and  taxation  have  been  de- 
scribed as  twin  brothers.  But  this  principle  has  not  been  fully 
understood.  It  does  not  follow  that  there  shall  be  an  unequal 
representation,  that  taxation  may  be  represented.  It  is  only  ne- 
cessary that  all  who  are  taxed  should  be  represented,  and  not 
that  they  should  be  represented  in  proportion  to  their  tax.”  These 
views  would  be  considered  liberal  even  by  the  radicals  of  this 
time,  and  they  are  applicable  to  some  of  our  existing  disputes. 
He  spoke  with  much  spirit  on  the  30th  of  December,  when  the 
independence  of  the  judiciary  wras  under  discussion.  After  show- 
ing the  little  likelihood  there  was  that  four  co-ordinate  branches 
of  the  Government  — the  House  of  Representatives,  the  Senate, 
the  Governor,  and  the  Council  — should  conspire  to  remove  a 
Judge  without  cause,  he  proceeded  to  observe:  “But  it  was 

argued  that  future  legislatures  might  be  corrupt.  This  was  a 
monstrous  supposition.  He  would  rather  suppose  that  a Judge 
might  be  corrupt.  It  was  more  natural  that  a single  person 
should  be  corrupt  than  a numerous  body.  The  proposed  amend- 
ment was  said  to  be  similar  to  provisions  of  other  Governments. 
There  was  no  analogy  — because  other  Governments  are  not  con- 
stituted like  ours.  It  was  said  that  the  Judges  have  estates  in 
their  offices  — he  did  not  agree  to  this  doctrine.  The  office  was 
not  made  for  the  Judge,  nor  the  Judge  for  the  office;  but  both 
for  the  people.  There  was  another  tenure  — the  confidence  of 
the  people.  It  was  that  which  has  hitherto  occurred  here.  Have 
we  then  less  reason  to  confide  in  posterity  than  our  ancestors  had 
to  confide  in  us  ? ” 8 


58 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


Under  the  act  for  the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  appointed  one  of  the  Commissioners  to  divide  and 
apportion  the  public  property.  He  was  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
Massachusetts  in  1823  ; and  in  February,  1824,  he  was  appointed 
an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court.  This  office  he 
held  but  a short  time,  for  in  1825  he  was  nominated  for  the  office 
of  Governor  of  Massachusetts  by  both  political  parties,  and  chosen 
without  opposition  to  speak  of.  That  time  was  the  close  of  “ the 
era  of  good  feeling,”  which  was  soon  to  be  followed  by  new  party 
divisions.  In  the  re-formation  of  parties  that  took  place  after  the 
election  of  Mr.  J.  Q.  Adams  to  the  presidency,  Governor  Lincoln 
became  a leader  of  that  organization  which  ultimately  was  so 
renowned  under  the  Whig  name.  By  this  party  he  was  repeatedly 
re-elected  to  the  executive  chair,  — or,  it  would  be  more  proper  to 
say,  he  was  re-elected  by  the  people,  as  the  opposition  made  to  his 
re-election  was  often  but  nominal.  He  was  Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts nine  years  in  succession,  a circumstance  without  parallel  in 
our  history  ; and  his  retirement  was  voluntary.  The  period  of  his 
governorship  was  one  of  the  most  prosperous  that  the  State  has 
ever  known,  and  is  often  looked  back  to  as  a golden  time,  when 
men  were  better  than  they  are  now,  and  when  sound  principles 
were  held  in  higher  veneration  than  they  are  by  the  existing  gener- 
ation. In  all  respects  Governor  Lincoln  was  a model  magistrate. 
He  was  universally  respected,  as  well  by  political  foes  as  by 
political  friends,  and  this  consideration  was  the  just  result  of  his 
conscientious  and  most  careful  discharge  of  the  various  and  difficult 
duties  of  his  high  station.  The  first  veto  message  ever  submitted 
to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  came  from  Governor  Lincoln. 

The  same  year  that  he  left  the  office  of  Governor  (1834), 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  chosen  a representative  in  congress,  from  the 
Worcester  district.  He  succeeded  Mr.  John  Davis  as  representa- 
tive, as  Mr.  Davis  had  succeeded  him  as  governor.  He  remained 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  by  successive  re-elections,  until 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


59 


1841.  His  course  as  a member  of  congress  was  high-minded  and 
honorable,  and  won  for  him  the  good  opinion  of  all.  Though 
strictly  faithful  to  his  party  and  its  principles,  he  had  a scorn  for 
the  work  of  mere  faction  that  sometimes  found  effective  expression. 
An  instance  of  this  occurred  during  the  exciting  presidential  con- 
test of  1840.  Mr.  Ogle,  of  Pennsylvania,  made  a speech,  in 
which  he  assailed  President  Van  Buren  for  having,  as  he  said, 
been  extravagant  in  furnishing  the  White  House.  There  was 
much  vulgarity  in  the  speech,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  though  a strong 
supporter  of  Gen.  Harrison,  replied  to  Mr.  Ogle  with  so  much 
effect  that  the  Democrats  printed  and  circulated  his  speech  as  a 
campaign  document. 

When  the  Whigs  came  into  power,  in  1841,  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
appointed  Collector  of  the  port  of  Boston,  succeeding  Mr.  Bancroft. 
He  remained  in  that  office  until  the  latter  part  of  1843,  when  he 
was  removed  by  President  Tyler,  who  was  then  intriguing  for  the 
Democratic  nomination,  and  therefore  was  making  use  of  “ the 
spoils  ” to  buy  up  active  politicians.  This  was  the  only  occasion 
on  which  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  left  office  otherwise  than  by  his  own 
act,  and  the  change  in  this  instance  was  honorable  to  him.  He 
was  immediately  chosen  to  the  State  Senate,  and  re-elected  the 
next  year,  when  he  was  made  president  of  that  body.  In  1848  he 
was  one  of  the  presidential  electors  on  the  Whig  ticket,  and  pre- 
sided over  the  Electoral  College  when  its  vote  was  cast  for  Taylor 
and  Fillmore.  He  was  chosen  first  mayor  of  the  city  of  Wor- 
cester, and  served  his  immediate  fellow-citizens  with  the  same  zeal, 
intelligence,  and  fidelity  that  ever  had  marked  his  course  in  higher 
positions.  He  gave  his  services  to  several  societies,  corporations, 
and  academies,  and  acted  as  trustee,  treasurer,  or  president,  in 
them  all,  repeatedly.  He  took  a great  interest  in  agriculture,  and 
was  for  many  years  president  of  the  Worcester  Agricultural 
Society.  He  was  also  a Vice-President  of  the  American  Antiqua- 
rian Society,  and  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 


60 


MEMORIAL  OF  LETT  LINCOLN. 


Sciences.  He  served  as  one  of  the  members  of  the  Board  of 
Overseers  of  Harvard  College,  and  by  that  learned  body  he  was 
made  a doctor  of  laws.  A similar  honor  was  conferred  on  him 
by  Williams  College.  His  last  public  post  was  that  of  presidential 
elector  in  1864,  on  the  Republican  or  Union  ticket.  He  was 
present  at  the  opening  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  in  1 866, 
to  witness  the  inauguration  of  his  neighbor  and  fellow-townsman, 
Governor  Bullock,  though  at  that  time  considerably  advanced 
toward  his  eighty-fourth  year.  It  will  be  observed  that  he  was 
born  the  same  year  with  Webster,  Calhoun,  Cass,  Van  Buren, 
and  Benton. 

A younger  brother  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  — Enoch  Lincoln,  born 
in  1788,  — was  a man  of  great  abilities  and  possessed  remarkable 
acquirements.  He  was  a student  of  Harvard  College,  studied  law 
with  his  elder  brother,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1811. 
Settling  at  Fryeburg,  in  the  then  district  of  Maine,  in  1812,  he 
gave  much  of  his  attention  to  the  Indian  history  of  that  part  of  the 
country  ; and  he  wrote  poems  of  much  merit  concerning  the  modes 
of  life  then  prevalent  in  the  country  of  the  Saco.  He  removed  to 
the  town  of  Paris  in  the  year  1819,  and  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives,  in  which  he  remained  until  1826, 
when  he  became  Governor  of  Maine.  The  two  brothers  were 
governors  at  the  same  time,  and  the  two  States  had  at  one  time 
formed  the  single  State  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  three  times 
Governor  of  Maine,  and  declined  a fourth  time,  purposing  to 
devote  himself  to  literature,  science,  and  agriculture,  in  all  of 
which  he  was  well-fitted  to  shine;  but  his  death,  in  1829,  when  in 
his  forty-first  year,  put  an  end  to  what  would  have  been  a brilliant 
life.  He  contemplated  an  extensive  work  on  Maine,  the  materials 
for  which  he  had  collected. 

Captain  George  Lincoln,  son  of  the  late  Governor  Lincoln, 
was  a young  man  of  much  promise.  He  left  college  at  the  age  of 
and  turned  his  attention  to  maritime  pursuits,  for  which  he 


MEMORIAL  OP  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


61 


showed  much  fitness.  He  then  entered  the  regular  army  of  the 
United  States,  and  served  in  the  Florida  war.  Sent  to  Texas  in 
1845,  he  was  present  in  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la 
Palma;  and  was  appointed  assistant  adjutant  general.  He  was 
attached  to  the  staff  of  General  Wool  at  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista, 
and  fell  at  the  crisis  of  that  hard-fought  action,  in  which  victory  so 

long  remained  in  doubt.  The  highest  tributes  were  paid  to  him  in 

✓ 

general  orders,  and  were  ratified  by  the  testimony  of  his  brother 
/A  officers.  He  fell  in  his  thirty  coeimd  year.  Had  he  lived,  he 
would  have  won  distinction  in  the  secession  war,  as  he  had  the  true 
spirit  of  the  soldier,  and  was  steadily  rising  in  the  army.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  the  rank  of  captain  had  been  conferred  upon  him, 
though  he  was  not  aware  of  the  fact.  His  remains  were  removed 
from  Mexico  when  our  army  left  that  country,  and  now  repose  in 
the  beautiful  cemetery  at  Worcester.  Major  Frye,  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Volunteers,  said  of  him:  “ By  his  noble  bearing  and  kind- 
ness of  heart,  he  won  our  affections  completely.  We  looked  upon 
him  as  upon  a brother,  and  when  we  were  leaving  the  country  we 
could  not  consent  to  leave  his  remains  behind  us.” 

The  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  though  not  without  warning,  has 
taken  him  from  the  community  by  which  he  was  beloved,  before 
age  had  made  life  burdensome,  or  impaired  mental  faculties  had 
weakened  his  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  native  State.  During  the 
Rebellion,  his  pen  on  more  than  one  occasion,  and  his  voicd  when 
opportunity  presented  itself,  told  of  the  patriotic  emotions  which  he 
experienced,  and  the  interest  he  felt  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 
H is  life  record  forms  a chapter  in  our  local  history  illustrating  the 
beauty  of  a career  in  which  devotion  to  great  public  interests  was 
happily  blended  with  the  purest  Christian  motives,  and  the  most 
spotless  personal  integrity.  Though  he  had  attained  to  a vener- 
able age,  he  had  not  outlived  the  remembrance  of  his  good  deeds 
performed  in  the  vigor  of  his  manhood.  Now  that  he  has  passed 
away,  the  people  of  the  whole  Commonwealth  will  revere  his 
memory. 


EXTRACT  FEOM  AN  ARTICLE 


IN  THE 

WORCESTER  PALLADIUM, 

BY  HON.  J.  S.  C.  KNOWLTON. 


Massachusetts  never  had  a more-efficient,  pains-taking,  prompt 
governor,  than  was  Governor  Lincoln.  He  made  himself  familiar 
with  the  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  devoted  himself  assid- 
uously to  the  promotion  of  its  interests,  and  the  protection  of  its 
■welfare  and  honor ; never  allowing  his  private  affairs  a precedence 
over  the  claims  which  he  considered  the  State  had  upon  his  time 
and  attention. 

Among  the  questions  of  State  policy  that  engaged  his  attention 
as  Governor,  was  that  of  internal  communication  of  the  seaboard 
with  what  are  now  the  great  and  powerful  States  of  the  West,  but 
which  then  had  scarcely  given  promise  of  what  they  have  since 
become.  He  favored  a survey  for  a canal  from  the  Hudson  River 
to  Boston  Harbor, — the  precursor  to  the  survey  for  the  railroad 
that  was  afterwards  constructed. 

Gov.  Lincoln  was  elected  a representative  in  Congress  in  Feb- 
ruary,  1834,  upon  the  election  of  John  Davis  as  governor ; and 
was  chosen  again  in  November  of  the  same  year ; again  in  1836  ; 
and  still  again  in  1838  ; and  in  1840.  In  that  position  he  was 
a faithful  and  honorable  member ; on  some  occasions  showing  that 
he  held  truth  and  honor  as  of  higher  moment  than  fealty  to  party ; 
though  Gov.  Lincoln  never  had  any  concealment  of  his  political 
sentiments,  nor  afforded,  on  any  occasion,  any  apology  even  for  an 
allegation  of  political  duplicity.  The  political  views  which  he 
accepted  in  early  life,  carried  him,  without  indirection,  into  the 
Republican  Party ; and  induced  him  to  speak  and  act,  so  far  as  his 

(62) 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


63 


age  would  permit,  in  support  of  the  National  Union,  and  in  rebuke 
and  condemnation  of  every  effort,  by  whomsoever  made,  to  break 
up  and  destroy  the  government. 

Upon  the  incorporation  of  Worcester  as  a city,  in  1848,  Gov. 
Lincoln  was  nominated  by  the  citizens,  without  distinction  of  party, 
for  its  first  Mayor,  — a befitting  compliment  to  one  whose  whole 
life  had  been  identified  with  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  mu- 
nicipality. He  accepted  the  position  only  for  a single  year. 

It  would  scarcely  be  hyperbole  to  say  of  Gov.  Lincoln,  that  lie 
was  one  of  the  institutions  of  Worcester,  so  intimately  was  he  con- 
nected with  all  its  material,  intellectual,  and  moral  interests  — 
its  means  for  industrial,  social,  and  general  development  and 
progress. 

Gov.  Lincoln  retained  his  faculties,  with  much  of  their  vigor, 
to  the  close  of  his  life,  even  after  a partial  paralysis  had  deprived 
him  of  the  ability  to  enjoy  the  activity  which  was  ever  one  of  his 
distinguishing  characteristics. 

The  life  of  a citizen,  so  widely  known,  and  so  intimately 
blended  with  the  present,  the  gone,  and  the  coming,  gives  per- 
tinency to  Coleridge’s  inquiry  : — 

“ Hath  he  not  always  treasures,  always  friends, 

The  good  great  man  ? Three  treasures  — love  and  light, 

And  calm  thoughts,  equable  as  infant’s  breath  ; 

And  three  fast  friends,  more  sure  than  day  or  night  — 

Himself,  his  Maker,  and  the  angel  Death.” 

The  death  of  Gov.  Lincoln  produced  a sensation  of  sadness, — 
not  merely  among  the  older  residents,  but  also  among  the  masses 
of  the  dwellers  of  the  city,  many  of  whom  might  never  have  known 
aught  of  him  but  his  reputation  as  a useful  and  honorable  citizen  ; 
spared  to  a great  age  as  an  exemplar  of  manly  virtues  ; and  clos- 
ing his  long  and  useful  life  only  at  that  day,  when,  as  the  sacred 
writer  expresses  it,  11  the  strength  of  the  hearers  of  burdens  is 
decayed .” 


THE  FOLLOWING  EXTRACT 


FROM  A NOTICE  IN  THE 

WORCESTER  DAILY  SPY, 

IS  UNDERSTOOD  TO  HAVE  BEEN  WRITTEN  BY 

HON.  HENRY  CHAPIN. 


Governor  Lincoln  was  a man  of  rare  executive  ability  and  un- 
bending integrity.  He  possessed  that  kindness  of  heart  and  urban- 
ity of  manner  which  characterize  the  true  man.  He  was  a splendid 
specimen  of  a gentleman  of  the  old  school.  No  man  welcomed  the 
coming  or  sped  the  parting  guest  more  gracefully  than  he.  His 
home  was  always  fragrant  with  the  flavor  of  hospitality,  while  true 
dignity  and  grace  always  seemed  a part  of  his  nature.  As  he 
walked  the  streets  up  to  the  time  of  his  last  sickness,  with  form 
erect  and  with  eye  undimmed,  no  stranger  ever  met  him  without 
feelinar  that  he  was  a remarkable  man. 

o 

Until  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  walked  a mile  to  church  in  pref- 
erence to  riding  in  his  carriage,  and  always  did  his  part  apparently 
with  the  vigor  of  a man  of  fifty.  Visitor’s  at  our  agricultural  fair 
last  fall  remember  with  pleasure  the  cordial  greeting  of  this  erect 
octogenarian,  as  he  walked  about  the  grounds  and  expressed  his 
admiration  at  the  unusually  fine  exhibition  of  stock.  He  possessed 
an  eloquence  of  speech  and  a purity  of  diction  rarely  equalled  and 
seldom  surpassed,  and  whatever  he  undertook  to  perform  we  knew 
would  be  done  gracefully  and  well.  The  truthfulness  and  honesty 
of  his  nature  were  peculiarly  manifested  during  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  when  casting  from  him  any  feeling  of  jealousy  towards  men 

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MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


65 


younger  and  less  talented  than  himself,  whose  views  had  at  times 
differed  materially  from  his  own,  he  stood  up  firm  and  fearless  for 
the  right,  regardless  alike  of  any  anxiety  as  to  whether  he  led  or 
followed.  No  truer  republican  lived  among  us,  and  his  devotion 
to  the  principles  of  the  party  upon  which  the  salvation  of  the  coun- 
try seemed  to  depend,  was  alike  honorable  to  his  head  and  his 
heart. 

A new  generation  has  come  upon  the  stage  since  his  name  was 
surrounded  with  a sort  of  halo  of  professional  success ; but  this 
community,  which  loved  and  honored  him,  not  only  for  his  remark- 
able ability,  but  for  the  noble  consistency  of  his  daily  life,  will 
cherish  his  memory  with  respect  and  affection,  and  will  long  refer 
to  him  as  the  gentleman  of  ripe  age  and  culture  whose  heart  was 
always  young,  and  who  to  the  last  day  of  his  long  and  useful  life, 
loved  the  home  of  his  childhood  and  his  friends  and  neighbors  with 
a fidelity  and  earnestness  of  affection  which  sickness  could  not 
change,  and  which  death  cannot  have  terminated. 

9 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 

WORCESTER  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY, 

AT  ITS 

SEMI-CENTENNIAL  ANNIVERSARY, 

SEPTEMBER  17,  1868. 


The  President,  Solomon  H.  Howe,  Esq.,  alluding  to  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Lincoln,  as  the  deceased  founder  of  the  Society,  introduced 
His  Excellency,  Governor  Bullock,  who  spoke  as  follows : 

EULOGY  BY  GOVERNOR  BULLOCK. 

Mr.  President  : In  offering  for  the  consideration  of  the 
society  the  resolutions  which  I hold  in  my  hand,  I almost  deem  it 
unnecessary  to  say  that  he  who  is  the  subject  of  them  bore  an 
active  part  fifty  years  ago  in  the  organization  of  this  institution. 
He  was  one  of  its  first  board  of  officers  under  his  father,  the  senior 
Governor  Lincoln,  as  president.  He  delivered  the  inauguration 
address  before  the  society  at  its  first  public  exhibition  forty-nine 
years  ago.  Five  years  later  he  was  chosen  its  president,  and  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  office,  without  interruption,  for  the  period  of 
nearly  thirty  years,  when  of  his  own  choice  he  retired.  I propose 
his  memory,  to-day,  accompanied  with  no  other  thoughts  or  reflec- 
tions than  such  as  flow  from  the  present  occasion,  and  from  his 
relations  to  this  association.  His  career  in  public  life  and  political 
station,  and  all  his  connections  with  other  objects  and  organiza- 
tions, I pass  over,  and  ask  you  to  remember  him  as  long  time  the 

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MEMORIAL  OF  LEYI  LINCOLN. 


67 


president  and  at  all  times  the  friend  of  the  Worcester  Agricultural 
Society.  I offer  the  following  resolutions  : 

Resolved,  By  the  members  of  the  Worcester  Agricultural 
Society,  that  we  share  with  the  general  public  in  deploring  the 
decease  of  Levi  Lincoln ; whose  life,  character  and  reputation 
were  cherished  by  all  the  people  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  were 
especially  near  and  dear  to  his  fellow  citizens  and  neighbors  in  the 
city  and  county  of  his  nativity  and  residence. 

Resolved,  Especially,  that  we  desire  to  make  enduring  record 
of  our  appreciation  of  the  service  he  rendered  to  this  society 
through  the  uninterrupted  period  of  half  a century ; one  of  its  orig- 
inators and  organizers,  its  first  recording  secretary,  its  president 
for  twenty-eight  years,  at  all  times  and  in  all  seasons  its  eloquent 
advocate,  constant  contributor,  and  devoted  friend. 

Resolved,  That  we  hold  out  to  our  members  and  to  all  whom 
our  influence  may  reach,  the  worthy  and  brilliant  example  of  our 
lamented  friend,  as  an  illustration  of  the  honor  and  dignity  which 
may  be  attained,  beyond  all  distinction  of  office  or  station,  by  a 
just  and  pure  life  passed  amid  rural  pursuits,  and  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  higher  sentiments  of  human  nature. 

Mr.  President,  the  present  season  is  an  eminently  proper 
occasion  for  recalling  to  the  attention  and  gratitude  of  those  now 
living  the  services  of  that  class  of  gentlemen,  of  whom  our  late 
townsman  remained  latest  among  us,  who  in  the  early  years  of  the 
present  century  conferred  a lasting  benefit  upon  the  whole  com- 
munity, by  organizing  the  first  agricultural  societies.  I have  been 
invited  to  attend,  during  this  month,  the  half  century  commemora- 
tion of  three  of  the  original  and  largest  of  these  societies.  I refer 
to  Worcester,  Essex  and  Hampshire.  One  of  these  finds  its  own 
existence  interwoven  with  the  life  of  Timothy  Pickering,  and  the 
associates  of  his  time  in  the  east ; another  cannot  write  its  history 
without  contributing  to  the  biography  of  Gov.  Strong,  the  Millses, 


68 


MEBIORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


the  JBateses,  and  the  Allens  so  well  known  as  the  river-gods  of  the 
Western  valley;  and  the  third,  our  own  society,  in  setting  up  a 
stone  to  mark  the  stage  of  fifty  years,  would  be  guilty  of  unnat- 
ural neglect  if  it  were  not  to  inscribe  most  prominent  the  name 
of  Governor  Lincoln  as  its  founder  and  steadfast  patron  and 
friend. 

There  are  those  now  present  who  can  bear  witness  to  the 
comprehensive  views  he  took  of  the  whole  field  of  agriculture,  and 
the  freedom  with  which  he  discussed  them  and  impressed  them 
upon  others.  The  characteristics  of  the  soil,  and  the  modern  arts 
and  methods  of  developing  and  improving  them ; the  rotation  of 
crops,  and  their  several  adaptations  to  particular  localities ; the 
kinds  of  animals  fitted  to  the  varying  towns  of  this  entire  section 
of  the  State,  and  the  history  of  their  introduction,  crossing  and 
improvement ; these  and  kindred  topics  were  quite  at  his  com- 
mand, and  he  treated  them  so  frequently  and  so  well  as  to  become 
the  best  educator  we  have  ever  had  in  the  county  for  all  that 
appertains  to  the  business  of  an  agricultural  society. 

He  once  gave  me  in  private  conversation  an  historical  account 
of  the  “ short  horn,”  occupying  half  an  hour,  and  fit  to  have  been 
taken  down  by  a reporter  for  preservation.  If  there  be  any  man 
in  the  State  who  is  better  informed  than  he  was  upon  this  class  of 
subjects,  I know  not  where  he  may  be  found.  His  power  of  prac- 
tical generalization  was  displayed  in  this  field  of  inquii’y,  and  he 
so  classified  and  arranged  the  topics  as  to  bring  the  whole  together 
into  a noble  system  of  organic  husbandry.  We  always  felt,  when 
listening  to  his  talk  upon  these  things  here  and  elsewhere,  that  he 
dignified  what  we  call  agriculture,  and  raised  our  thoughts  of  it, 
as  of  something  greater  and  higher  than  a mere  mechanical  neces- 
sity for  subsisting  the  human  family. 

It  must  be  pleasant  to  a great  many  persons  now  living,  to 
remember  this  Worcester  Society,  as  it  comes  back  to  them  from 
the  days  of  his  presiding ; and  it  is  no  disparagement  of  any  of  his 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


69 


successors  if  some  of  us  cannot  make  the  association  seem  quite 
the  same  thing  that  it  was  to  us  under  his  control  and  manage- 
ment.  My  early  recollections  of  a cattle  show  are  of  coming 
hither  as  a boy,  nearly  forty  miles,  and  witnessing  the  dignity  and 
affability  with  which  he  presided,  and  the  interest  with  which  he 
inspired  all  who  were  around  him.  Many  of  you  know  how 
patient,  in  that  relation,  he  was  of  every  detail,  so  that  it  appeared 
that  he  could  not  formerly  have  been  more  painstaking  in  adminis- 
tering the  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth  than  afterwards  in  directing 
these.  His  hospitality  after  the  labors  of  the  show-day  were  over, 
when  committee-men  assembled  under  his  roof  to  condense,  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  evening,  the  somewhat  diversified,  and  perhaps 
somewhat  incoherent  lessons  of  the  field  and  pens,  will  long  be 
remembered  by  every  one  who  ever  shared  it.  The  best  farmers 
from  distant  towns  went  away  with  an  enlarged  sense  of  the  eleva- 
tion and  importance  of  their  vocation,  and  felt  encouraged  to  strive 
more  stoutly  in  the  next  year’s  competition.  I make  much  allow- 
ance for  the  large  increase  in  the  number  of  these  societies,  and  the 
consequent  reduction  of  the  power  of  the  old  ones,  — and  more  still 
for  the  modern  hoi'se  furor,  which  carries  all  before  it,  and  to  which 
those  who  would  not,  nevertheless  do  yield,  for  the  sake  of  the 
receipts ; and  yet  even  more  for  the  overshadowing  predominance 
of  the  modern  mechanic  arts  over  the  smaller  department  of  agri- 
culture ; and  after  all  these  allowances,  I have  an  opinion  that  our 
friend  could  accomplish  more  and  better  results  than  any  man 
I ever  knew  in  keeping  up  the  influence  of  an  agricultural  society 
upon  the  basis  of  its  original  design. 

You  and  I know  with  what  reluctance  he  gave  up  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  introduction  of  the  trial  of  the  speed  of  horses  as  a 
prominent  item  in  the  programme  of  our  institution,  — for  he 
knew,  as  he  once  said  to  me,  that  the  incident  would  in  due  time 
become  the  principal.  Let  us  respect  him  for  that,  even  while  we 
give  way  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  prediction,  which  subordinates 


70 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


to-day,  that  is  assigned  for  the  cattle,  below  to-morrow,  which  be- 
longs to  the  horses.  I will  not  raise  the  question  which  of  the  two 
we  ought  to  respect  the  more  highly  in  the  peerage  of  the  race, — 
whether  it  should  be  Devon  or  Derby.  That  you  may  answer  each 
one  for  himself.  For  myself,  amid  all  the  excitement  of  cable  dis- 
patches from  the  English  course,  announcing  silver  plate  and  fabu- 
lous wagers,  won  or  lost,  according  to  the  infinitesimal  part  of  a 
second  of  time,  achieved  by  the  fleetest  hoof,  with  the  name  of  the 
progenitor  sire  annexed,  I like  to  repeat  what  Mr.  Webster,  standing 
in  the  centre  of  his  herd  at  Marshfield,  twenty  years  ago,  told  me 
the  Duke  of  Devon  had  said  to  him  : “ Politically  my  domain  may 
cease  to  endure,  perhaps  sooner  than  I could  wish ; but  I console 
myself  with  the  reflection  that  my  name  shall  be  respected  so  long 
as  the  noble  race  of  cattle  which  bears  it  shall  continue  to  exist  in 
England.” 

The  farmer  of  Marshfield  and  the  farmer  of  Worcester,  con- 
temporaries and  friends  in  almost  all  other  things,  were  assimilated 
in  the  possession  and  cultivation  of  this  instinct  and  taste.  On  the 
day  already  referred  to,  when,  with  a party  of  friends,  Mr.  Web- 
ster had  perambulated  his  twelve  hundred  acres,  and  had  shown  to 
us  his  fields,  his  cattle,  and  his  barns,  we  noticed  the  stable  well 
stocked  with  horses,  and  asked  that  we  might  not  fail  to  see  them. 
“ Certainly,”  he  said,  “ here  are  some  horses,  quite  handsome  and 
excellent,  I believe,  which  have  been  presented  to  me  by  generous 
friends.  Look  at  them  and  judge.  I profess  to  know  how  to 
build  a barn,  and  to  understand  the  best  cow  in  an  hundred ; but 
these  horses  are  a little  out  of  my  line.”  And  you  remember  that, 
as  his  last  days  on  earth  approached,  he  requested  that  he  might  be 
propped  up  in  his  chair  by  the  window,  and  that  his  cattle  should 
be  driven  up  before  him  for  his  last  inspection.  It  was  a review, 
true  to  nature,  just  prior  to  his  final  departure.  He  liked  those 
faces,  and  turned  his  own  towards  them  with  a confidence  which 
the  last  hours  of  a man  make  solemn  and  worthy  of  respect. 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


71 


In  the  exercises  at  yonder  church  in  funeral  honor  to  Gover- 
nor Lincoln,  my  greatly  esteemed  friend,  the  Reverend  Dr.  Ellis, 
— who  had  been,  long  time,  an  intimate  in  the  family,  and  who 
better  than  most  persons  was  fitted  to  speak  of  the  departed,  — 
with  his  quick  sagacity  as  to  the  features  of  urban  and  rural  life, 
made  special  mention  of  this  point  in  the  life  of  the  good  Gover- 
nor. He  said : 

“ The  joys  of  his  childhood  were  so  associated  with  the 
objects  and  interests  of  a farm  that,  to  the  very  end  of  his  length- 
ened days,  and  most  so  when  nearest  to  it,  he  found  his  occupation 
and  delights  in  the  same  cherished  pursuits.  A guest  in  his  de- 
lightful home,  who  had  gone  to  his  rest  at  night  as  in  a city  man- 
sion, would  awake  in  early  morning  to  the  lowing  of  kine  and 
the  cackling  of  fowls.  Looking  from  one  side  of  the  house,  he 
would  see  the  beautiful  flower-garden  with  its  conservatory,  and  on 
the  other  the  herd  going  out  to  pasture,  and  the  yoked  oxen  to 
their  labor.” 

To  me,  living  directly  opposite  his  residence  and  observing  for 
many  years  his  daily  ways,  this  picture  of  the  governor,  by  Dr. 
Ellis,  was  peculiarly  truthful  and  charming.  Looking  out  from 
my  chamber  window  at  an  early  hour  in  the  summer  mornings,  I 
used  to  call  attention  to  the  Governor  emerging  from  his  dwelling, 
a little  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  us,  to  review  his  line  of  Ayrshires 
as  they  passed  by  him  to  the  green  fields  beyond.  His  fondness 
and  knowledge  of  good  stock  found  expression  in  as  choice  words 
as  could  be  bestowed  upon  a fine  landscape.  In  this  particular  he 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  present  era  of  taste  and  sentiment 
for  the  higher  grades  of  the  animals  which  is  ennobling  the  people 
of  this  Commonwealth.  From  the  day  of  Edmund  Burke,  who, 
amid  the  thickening  of  the  terrible  public  drama  of  that  time,  found 
solace  and  invigoration  among  his  herd  at  Beaconsfield,  there  has 
been  nothing  better  in  the  education  and  exaltation  of  the  mass  of  the 
community  than  is  exhibited  now  in  the  care  and  fondness  bestowed 


72 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEYI  LINCOLN. 


by  the  people  of  Massachusetts  upon  the  improved  kinds  of  ani- 
mals. And  I have  not  met  with  any  one  who  engaged  in  this 
method  of  promoting  the  general  welfare  and  making  the  cultiva- 
tion of  live  stock  almost  an  ideal  employment,  with  more  genuine 
sentiment  than  our  departed  friend  and  president. 

He  was  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  all  the  growths  and 
symbols  of  beauty  in  nature.  Of  course  he  was  a lover  of  trees. 
I make  this  one  of  the  tests  of  a true  and  sympathetic  man.  In 
the  matter  of  our  sensibilities  the  poet  has  given  undue  precedence 
to  sound  over  sight.  I do  not  know  but  every  stranger  to  the 
“concord  of  sweet  sounds”  should  be  given  over  to  “treason, 
stratagems  and  spoils certainly,  at  least,  this  rhapsody  of 
Shakespeare  on  music,  as  some  one  has  said,  has  furnished  every 
vacant  fiddler  with  something  to  say  in  defence  of  his  profession. 
But  what  do  you  say  of  a man  or  woman  that  does  not  warm  under 
the  concord  of  sweet  sights  — of  trees  and  flowers.  In  the  life- 
time of  the  late  Governor  we  were  wont  to  indulge  in  facetiousness 
over  his  position  of  championship  and  antagonism  in  the  behalf  of 
all  standing  trees.  So  far  as  I am  aware,  lie  was  never  known  to 
be  willing  that  one  should  be  taken  down  unless  under  authority 
almost  equivalent  to  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  eminent  domain. 
He  knew  the  ages  and  could  verify  the  concentric  rings  of  most  of 
the  trees  in  our  neighborhood.  A generation  ago  he  cut  the  finest 
private  avenue  of  the  city,  and  planted  his  home  on  it,  then  quite 
remote  from  the  street,  and  called  Oregon,  saving  old  trees  and 
planting  new  ones,  now  old.  As  a consequence,  in  later  years  new 
comers  found  the  ash,  the  maple,  and  the  elm,  in  the  centre  of  the 
brick  sidewalks  ; the  municipal  authorities  did  not  like  to  cross  his 
feeling ; and  artifice  had  to  be  resorted  to,  in  some  instances,  to 
clear  the  incumbrance  from  the  walks.  He  believed  in  front  yards, 
and  ample  lawns,  and  green  leaves. 

Flowers,  too,  he  appreciated  beyond  most  men,  and  guarded 
them  to  their  tenderest  roots.  There  was  most  excellent  sentiment 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


73 


in  him  for  these,  though  no  overflow  of  sentimentality.  He  could 
not  translate  the  technical  language  of  flowers  like  Van  Buren,  but 
he  enjoyed  and  cultivated  them  as  ministers  and  agents  in  the 
divine  poetry  of  human  life.  I dwell  upon  this  because,  in  my 
judgment,  it  ought  to  pass  for  much  in  the  estimation  of  a real 
country  gentleman.  He  manifested  this  taste  at  festive  boards, 
and  observing  beautiful  groups  of  vine  and  blossoms  depending 
from  the  stand,  he  would  say  that  it  must  have  cost  the  gardener  a 
pang  to  cut  such  clusters.  He  reminded  me  of  the  late  Mr. 
Choate,  who  was  known  to  carry  back  a bough  to  the  trunk  from 
which  he  had  torn  it,  in  the  belief,  as  he  said,  that  possibly,  there 
might  be  some  yearning  between  the  parent  stock  and  the  disrup- 
ted shoot.  Such  men,  by  their  natural  sympathies,  expressed  in 
courtly  words,  make  the  world  attractive  to  others. 

But  trees,  above  all  things,  Governor  Lincoln  believed  in  and 
admired.  He  had  inherited  from  his  birth  in  this  interior  county 
an  appreciation  of  out-door  life  and  the  manly  and  healthful  pur- 
suits  of  the  country.  His  father’s  house  was  amid  original  groves. 
He,  himself,  had  been  born  upon  the  verge  of  the  modern  clearing, 
and  on  the  margin  of  the  later  civilization.  By  nature  and  right  he 
retained  unto  the  end  his  love  of  the  rural  scenes  in  which  he  had 
been  cradled.  The  relations  of  his  family  carried  him  backward  to 
the  days  of  Worcester  county  colonization,  and  he  kept  this  mem- 
ory fresh  and  practical.  These  clay  hills  of  Worcester,  unchanged 
since  the  creation,  covered  largely  until  within  my  recollection  with 
the  primeval  woods  ; the  sublime  grouping  of  the  Monadnock  and 
the  Wachusett,  and  the  smaller  ranges  and  spurs  intervening 
between  them  and  us  ; the  spring  verdure  on  the  plains  deepened 
and  enriched  all  the  way  for  forty  miles  around  with  gleam  of 
water  and  graver  shade  of  embowering  forests  ; the  richest  variega- 
tion of  the  autumn  and  winter,  comprising  the  hues  of  October  and 
the  leafless  branches  of  December ; the  wooded  and  icy  galleries  of 
January  and  February,  extending  through  all  the  country  from  this 
10 


74 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


town  to  the  White  Hills ; the  perennial  banners  of  pine,  and  hem- 
lock, and  fir,  that  hung  out  over  all  this  northerly  circuit,  so  much 
observed  and  admired  by  our  fathers  ; — these  had  for  nim  the 
sanction  of  the  lords  of  the  soil  of  a former  generation,  and  re- 
ceived his  life-long  love  and  respect. 

“In  such  green  palaces  the  first  kings  reigned, 

Slept  in  their  shades,  and  angels  entertain’d  ; 

With  such  old  counsellors  they  did  advise, 

And,  by  frequenting  sacred  groves,  grew  wise.” 

It  seemed  to  me  that  Governor  Lincoln  kept  off  old  age  by 
renewing  his  youth  in  sympathy  with  each  recurring  spring  and 
summer.  In  my  last  visit  to  his  chamber,  only  a short  time  before 
his  death,  he  said  that,  until  within  a year,  he  had  never  thought 
or  felt  that  he  was  an  old  man.  And  some  of  you  must  have 
noticed,  as  I frequently  have  within  the  past  ten  years,  that,  on 
public  occasions,  any  allusion  to  him  as  aged  or  venerable,  evi- 
dently was  not  relishable  to  him.  Old  age  in  him  was  not  churlish, 
or  querulous,  or  so  unresponsive  as  with  many  men  at  his  time  of 
life*.  He  appeared  proud  to  show  that  he  believed  in  that  age 
whose  pillars  are  raised  on  the  foundations  of  youth.  To  him  this 
felicity  came  in  great  part  from  being  constantly  in  communion 
and  intercourse  with  the  outward  and  visible  world.  He  meant  to 
know  what  was  going  on,  to  the  end.  No  person  knew  better  than 
he,  every  year  until  the  last,  what  was  exhibited  here ; and  from 
what  towrn  and  farm  ; and  how  and  by  whom  raised  ; and  by  what 
process  brought  into  a condition  fit  for  this  exhibition  of  the  won- 
ders of  the  earth.  He  was,  all  his  life,  awake  and  sensitive  to 
the  growth  and  expansion  of  his  country;  and,  true  to  the  senti- 
ments which  had  descended  to  him  from  his  ancestors,  he  stood  by 
his  country’s  colors  bravely  through  three  wars,  and  never  more 
gallantly  than  in  the  last.  By  unintermitted  familiarity  with  the 
life  of  society,  and  with  the  ceasless  activities  of  the  animal  and 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


75 


vegetable  kingdom,  he  kept  his  own  being  vital  and  fresh,  as  if 
supplied  from  the  sources  of  perpetual  youth.  Accordingly, 
instead  of  trying  to  think  that  he  was  neglected,  or  that  his  day 
had  gone  by,  — as  old  folks  are  too  apt  to  say,  — he  knew  better, 
and  gratefully  realized  in  every  day’s  experience  that  he  was  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of 

“ that  which  should  accompany  old  age, 

As  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends.” 

The  last  years  of  his  life  were  marked  by  something  of  the  ancient 
patriarchal  serenity,  and  would  stand  the  test  of  the  best  sentiment 
and  style  of  Cicero’s  philosophy  for  old  age. 

And  thus,  Gentlemen  of  the  Worcester  Agricultural  Society, 
as  your  president  drew  nearer  and  nearer  the  goal,  he  illustrated 
that  law  of  our  existence,  which,  I have  sometimes  thought,  accor- 
ding to  all  just  conceptions  of  our  human  lot,  is  as  unerring  as  the 
law  of  gravitation,  — the  rule  of  the  sympathy  and  affinity  of  man 
to  the  earth  whence  he  sprang  and  to  which  he  must  return. 
Above  all  others,  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil,  and  are  in  daily  observation  and  study  of  the  miracles  of  the 
natural  world,  alike  perceive  and  exemplify  this  law.  So  did  he  in 
a large  and  appreciable  sense.  The  last  labors  and  the  last  thoughts 
of  such  are  in  tranquil  association  with  the  myriad  lessons  coming 
from  this  common  mother  earth  to  which  the  mortal  part  of  us  must 
go  back  to  find  its  rest.  Even  under  the  heathen  philosophies  the 
advanced  stage  of  human  life  found  its  keener  pleasures  in  pursuits 
relating  to  the  culture  of  the  soil.  Under  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion this  tie  is  more  bright  and  vital,  and  vibrates  with  grander 
thoughts  and  joys.  The  higher  aspects  of  the  contemplation  and 
cultivation  of  the  land,  break  to  the  gaze  of  the  Christian  agricul- 
turist, “as  he  moves  forward  to  the  great  crisis  of  his  being, 
catching  an  intelligent  glimpse  of  the  grand  arcana  of  nature 
exhibited  in  the  creative  energy  of  the  terrestrial  elements ; the 


70 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


suggestive  mystery  of  the  quickening  seed  and  the  sprouting  plant ; 
the  resurrection  of  universal  Nature  from  her  wintry  grave.” 

And  so  he  died.  A few  months  after  his  last  visit  to  these 
grounds,  and  in  fond  remembrance  of  the  benefit  and  the  blessing 
he  had  learned  and  taught  through  the  long  time  of  fifty  years,  he 
himself  was  “ sown  a natural  body,”  to  be  “ raised  a spiritual  body.” 
The  analogies  of  growth,  and  ripening,  and  decadence,  which  had 
crowded  on  his  thought  and  study  for  half  a century,  followed  him 
in  happy  fruition  to  the  spot,  where,  under  his  own  hemlocks,  and 
amid  the  first  leaves  of  June,  we  laid  him  in  the  cemetery  which 
his  eloquence  had  consecrated  a generation  before  with  pathos  and 
splendor.  And  so  he  went  away  from  our  presence. 

“ Of  no  distemper,  of  no  blast  he  died, 

But  fell  like  Autumn  fruit  that  mellowed  long ; 

Even  wondered  at  because  he  dropt  no  sooner. 

Fate  seemed  to  wind  him  up  for  fourscore  years  ; 

Yet  freshly  ran  he  on  six  winters  more  ; 

Till,  like  a clock  worn  out  with  eating  time, 

The  wheels  of  weary  life  at  last  stood  still.” 


ADDRESSES 


MADE  AT  THE  MEETING  OF  THE 

AMERICAN  ANTIQUARIAN  SOCIETY, 

JUNE  2,  1 8 68. 


At  a special  meeting  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  at 
Antiquarian  Hall,  in  Worcester,  on  Tuesday,  the  second  day  of 
June,  1868,  at  nine  o’clock,  A.  M.,  to  take  notice  of  the  death  of 
Hon.  Levi  Lincoln,  their  senior  Vice-President  : 

The  President,  Hon.  Stephen  Salisbury,  occupied  the  chair,  and 
addressed  the  Society  as  follows  : — 

Brethren  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  : 

The  last  survivor  of  the  Founders  of  our  Society,  whose  life 
was  full  of  wholesome  instruction,  has  given  to  us  his  last  lesson 
in  the  maturity  and  dignity  of  his  death.  At  seven  o’clock  of  the 
morning  of  May  29,  1868,  Hon.  Levi  Lincoln,  our  senior  Vice- 
President,  died  at  his  residence  in  Worcester,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five  years,  seven  months,  and  four  days.  lie  retained  the  enter- 
prise and  activity  of  early  manhood  with  little  abatement  until 
about  a year  ago,  when  he  had  a slight  shock  of  disease  that  im- 
paired his  bodily  strength,  and  he  at  once  acknowledged  the  warn- 
ing that  his  earthly  work  must  soon  end.  Iiis  strong  wish  was 
gratified  in  the  continuance  of  his  power  to  be  wise  and  useful  to 
the  last.  He  endured  the  increasing  decay  of  his  bodily  powers 
with  patient  resignation,  and  measured  the  descending  steps  with 

(77) 


78 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


calmness.  In  the  last  three  weeks  he  expressed  opinions  on  public 
affairs  and  private  business  which  were  marked  with  the  clearness 
and  strength  of  his  best  days.  He  has  held  important  offices  in 
our  Society  from  the  first,  but  he  was  never  willing  to  take  the 
office  of  President.  In  1812,  he  was  the  Treasurer.  From  1817 
to  1854  he  was  an  elected  member  of  the  Council,  and  from  1854 
to  his  death  he  was  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents.  At  the  meetings 
of  the  Society  and  of  the  Council,  he  constantly  attended  and  gave 
most  efficient  aid  in  furthering  scientific  operations  as  well  as 
ordinary  business.  He  enriched  our  library  with  frequent,  large, 
valuable,  and  appropriate  gifts  of  books  and  manuscripts,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  largest  donors  of  the  Publishing  Fund.  There  is 
no  part  of  our  publications  that  has  raised  the  character  and  pro- 
moted the  success  of  our  Society  to  a greater  degree,  than  the 
graceful  and  spirited  addresses  and  resolutions  which  he  has  fre- 
quently offered. 

His  conduct  toward  our  Society  is  accordant  with  the  ordinary 
course  of  his  life,  and  is  the  result  of  the  peculiarity  of  his  char- 
acter and  the  source  of  his  power,  — his  faithfulness.  This  attri- 
bute can  be  traced  from  his  early  youth,  when  he  was  a classmate 
of  the  Harvard  graduates  of  1802,  a class  not  excelled  in  character, 
influence,  and  power,  by  the  alumni  of  any  year  in  any  college  of 
our  country.  Among  such  associates  he  was  not  distinguished  for 
genius  or  learning  at  college,  but  he  was  not  second  to  the  most 
gifted  of  them  in  the  power,  usefulness,  and  honor  of  his  mature 
life.  He  was  not  more  remarkable  for  his  capacity  and  his  love 
for  labor,  than  for  the  wise  direction  of  his  efforts  and  for  his  desire 
to  obtain  respect  and  dignity  for  the  object  with  which  he  was 
entrusted.  A stranger  might  impute  to  him  a love  of  display,  but 
those  who  saw  him  devote  the  same  thoroughness  in  the  privacy  of 
a social  meeting  for  a local  improvement,  as  he  used  in  a measure 
of  national  importance,  will  give  him  credit  for  higher  motives. 
He  was  not  a man  of  books  or  of  systematic  study,  but  he  never 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


79 


presented  his  thoughts  in  public  without  giving  evidence  that  he 
had  learning  at  his  command.  He  was  not  so  distinguished  for 
genius  or  the  prominence  of  any  intellectual  faculties,  as  for  his 
perfect  command  of  the  operations  of  his  own  mind.  His  great 
facility  of  language  and  the  fascination  of  his  eloquence  did  not 
mislead  him,  and  many  will  bear  witness  that  he  was  able,  when 
suddenly  called  to  take  part  in  an  important  debate,  to  carry  on 
mental  investigation  while  he  was  speaking,  so  that  he  made  an 
impression,  of  which  the  beginning  of  his  discourse  gave  no  inti- 
mation. With  his  faithfulness  a kindred  virtue  was  associated  — 
his  moral  courage  — which  was  more  extraordinary,  as  it  was 
combined  with  great  love  of  approbation.  I think  he  would  have 
assented  to  the  apothegm  of  Pindar,  that  the  next  best  thing  to  the 
performance  of  a good  deed  is  the  glory  of  it.  Yet  his  biography 
will  recount  as  we  cannot  at  this  time,  how  for  the  vindication  of 
political  principles  and  measures  which  he  deemed  important,  for 
sustaining  the  criminal  law,  for  giving  the  greatest  strength  to  the 
Judiciary,  and  for  other  lesser  exigencies  of  justice,  truth,  and  the 
common  weal,  he  disregarded  the  claims  of  friendship,  the  per- 
suasions of  those  whom  he  most  respected,  and  fierce  threats  of 
political  disgrace  and  ruin.  His  faithfulness  enabled  him  to  main- 
tain his  pure  character  and  the  Christian  observances  which  he 
approved,  not  only  in  the  peacefulness  of  his  home,  but  as  well 
under  the  withering  indifference  and  scorn  of  fashion.  His  social 
sympathy  was  ready  and  strong,  and  it  prompted  him  to  exercise 
the  generosity  and  kindness  which  gave  such  grace  and  influence  to 
his  life  and  caused  such  general  regret  at  his  departure.  It  will 
be  appropriate  to  others,  who  mourn  for  this  loss,  to  speak  of  the 
number  and  the  importance  of  his  public  services,  of  his  agency  in 
originating  and  maintaining  good  and  wholesome  laws,  of  his  wise 
efforts  to  give  extent  as  well  as  completeness  to  public  education, 
of  his  active  exertions  to  develop  the  industry  and  the  resources  of 
our  country  and  the  character  of  our  people,  to  promote  the  spread 


80 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


of  Christian  truth  and  Christian  morality,  and  to  secure  rights  of 
Christian  worship,  and  provide  for  its  support. 

All  these  topics  we  must  pass  by.  We  have  met  for  a short 
hour  to  consider  him  as  a Father  of  our  literary  association,  and  in 
this  view  we  dwell  on  his  character,  as  a part  of  our  treasures  not 
less  than  his  gifts,  large,  and  frequent,  and  his  personal  exertions 
for  our  common  object.  But,  the  element  of  character  so  strongly 
predominates  in  his  last  public  serviee,  that  its  mention  here  would 
be  permitted,  if  it  were  not  required  by  justice  and'  gratitude.  I 
allude  to  the  cordial  and  patriotic  support  which,  in  his  retirement, 
he  gave  to  the  government  of  our  country  through  the  discourage- 
ments and  perils  of  the  last  eight  years,  with  a candid  allowance 
for  the  difficulties  of  the  time.  Though  this  support  was  rendered 
with  few  public  and  unobtrusive  statements  of  his  opinions,  it  had 
the  strongest  influence  to  inspire  confidence  and  patience  in  men  of 
cautious  and  conservative  sentiments,  while  it  gave  a safe  direction 
to  those  who  were  more  bold  and  adventurous. 

The  brief  time  that  can  be  allowed  for  this  meeting  will  not 
permit  me  to  pursue  these  interesting  topics.  Official  duty  re- 
quired me  to  present  our  object  with  more  regard  to  the  oppor- 
tunity of  others  to  address  you,  than  to  the  completeness  of  that 
which  I can  offer.  The  hand  of  friendship  has  not  the  skill  to 
draw  the  portrait  of  such  a man.  While  I perform  this  solemn 
and  honorable  task,  I must  look  toward  our  Society  as  steadily  as 
I may,  and  forget  for  the  moment  that  he  whom  I invite  you  to 
honor,  is  one  of  the  small  and  decreasing  number  of  relatives,  who 
remain  to  me ; one  to  whom  I have  looked  for  social  happiness  and 
wise  counsels  through  my  life,  and  from  whom  I have  received 
expressions  of  affection  and  kind  consideration,  which  I cannot 
impute  to  my  own  merit,  as  they  were  evidently  a transmitted  gift 
of  my  inheritance  from  my  own  respected  father. 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


81 


Hon.  Emory  Washburn  spoke  as  follows  : — 

Mr.  President  : 

This  is  no  time,  nor  is  there  any  occasion  for  eulogy,  when 
preparing  to  pay  our  last  tribute  of  respect  to  one  whom  we,  and 
the  people  of  this  Commonwealth,  have  known  so  long,  and  so 
well.  Eulogies  by  the  living  for  the  dead  are  indeed  appropriate, 
where  the  sphere  in  which  one  has  moved  has  been  outside  of  the 
great  centres  and  thoroughfares  of  active  life,  and  there  is  danger, 
otherwise,  of  the  world’s  losing  the  benefit  of  the  lessons  which  are 
to  be  drawn  from  the  example  of  a good  man’s  life.  But  in  the 
case  of  our  late  lamented  associate,  Gov.  Lincoln,  it  needs  no 
eulogy  on  our  part  to  I'ender  his  name  more  honored,  or  his  fame 
more  illustrious.  He  has  just  closed  a long  life  of  actual  useful- 
ness, during  a large  portion  of  which  he  has  stood  out  before  the 
people  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  country,  in  places  of  dis- 
tinguished trust  and  honor.  Few  are  spared  to  more  than  four- 
score years  of  uninterrupted  activity ; and  still  fewer  have  ever 
shared  in  public  life  the  unbroken  confidence,  for  so  many  of  those 
years,  which  his  fellow  citizens  accorded  to  him  with  almost  un- 
exampled unanimity. 

Scarcely  any  of  us  can  go  back  in  memory  to  the  earlier 
stages  of  his  distinguished  career.  And  no  one  can  remember  the 
time  when  he  did  not,  by  his  conduct  and  example,  exhibit  the 
same  characteristic  claims  upon  the  respect  of  every  good  citizen 
which,  in  later  life,  won  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  such  as  had 
known  him  for  the  first  time,  when  the  temptations  of  ambition,  if 
they  had  ever  existed,  had  passed  away,  and  the  desire  of  popular 
favor  had  ceased  to  be  an  imputed  motive  to  action.  In  briefer 
terms,  his  has  been  a life  in  which  have  been  exemplified  a con- 
sistency of  motive  and  a singleness  of  purpose  which  have  rarely 
been  witnessed  in  the  career  of  any  one  who  has  shared,  as  he  did, 
such  marked  expressions  of  popular  favor. 

I should  fear  that  I was  trespassing  upon  the  province  of 
ll 


82 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


others,  in  venturing  to  speak  more  at  large,  of  the  character  of  one 
so  much  honored  in  this  community,  if  I did  not  recall  that  it  is 
now  almost  fifty  years  since  my  relations  to  him  began  to  be  more 
or  less  intimate,  and  that,  during  that  time,  I have  often  been 
favored  by  expressions  on  his  part,  of  a kindly  regard,  botli  in 
public  and  in  private,  by  letter  and  in  the  unreserved  intercourse  of 
personal  friendship ; and  if  I did  not  feel,  too,  that  I might  assume 
to  know  something  of  the  inner  life  and  motives  of  one  whose 
character  I had  so  often  studied,  and  of  whose  example  I had  so 
long  been  an  interested  observer. 

While,  therefore,  I shall  not  attempt  to  allude,  in  anything 
like  detail,  to  the  leading  events  in  a life  which  has  been  inti- 
mately associated  with  the  history  of  the  Commonwealth  for  more 
than  half  a century,  I have  little  hesitation  in  saying,  that  I have 
never  known  one  whose  life  and  character  had  more  of  complete- 
ness in  its  composition  than  his.  I arrogate  perfection  for  no 
man.  But  for  a uniform  and  harmonious  consistency  in  its  sev- 
eral parts,  there  are  few  lives  with  whose  private  history  we  are 
familiar,  which  have  higher  claims  upon  our  admiration  and  re- 
spect than  his  whom  we  have  met  to  honor.  As  we  study  it, 
whether  as  a whole  or  in  detail,  we  find  in  every  stage  of  it  cer- 
tain characteristics  which  are  the  guaranties  of  success,  wherever 
they  are  united.  Among  these  were  a steadiness  of  purpose,  a 
quickness  in  expedients,  a judgment  cool  and  well  balanced,  dis- 
criminating wisely  in  the  selection  of  agents  and  the  application 
of  means,  and,  withal,  a courage  that  shrunk  from  no  responsi- 
bility, and  an  industry  that  was  alike  incessant  and  unwearied. 
And  it  was  by  these  and  similar  elements  of  success  that  he 
achieved  the  rank  which  he  sustained  among  the  distinguished 
men  of  Massachusetts,  with  whom  he  had  been  cotemporary. 

He  was  early  called  into  the  arena  of  politics,  but  though 
surrounded  by  the  temptations  which  ambition  holds  out  to  its  vo- 
taries iu  its  honors  and  rewards,  he  did  not  suffer  himself  to  be 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


83 


withdrawn  from  the  duties  and  labors  of  an  honorable  but  ardu- 
ous profession,  to  which  he  had  been  educated,  with  its  less  daz- 
zling' but  more  permanent  rewards,  until  he  had  won  for  himself 
a foremost  rank  at  the  bar,  and  achieved  a position  of  personal 
independence  which  raised  him  above  suspicion  of  sordid  or  mer- 
cenary motives.  And  few  triumphs  have  been  more  signal  or 
gratifying,  than  that  by  which,  after  all  the  censure  and  sharp 
criticism  which  political  controversies  are  sure  to  excite,  the  root 
of  bitterness  which  had  poisoned  the  harmony  of  neighborhoods 
and  families,  was  laid  aside,  and  he  himself  made  the  organ  and 
representative,  by  common  consent,  of  both  parties,  and  the  ex- 
ponent of  a broader  and  more  liberal  policy  in  the  councils  of 
the  Commonwealth. 

The  political  career  of  Governor  Lincoln  must,  for  obvious 
reasons,  stand  out  more  prominently  than  any  other  period  in  the 
history  of  his  life.  In  the  first  place  it  covered  the  almost  un- 
precedented term  of  more  than  thirty  years.  And  as  we  recur 
to  it  at  a time  when  scandal  has  been  busy  with  the  fame  of  so 
many  in  high  places,  we  may  feel  a just  sense  of  pride  in  his 
behalf  who  had  passed  through  so  long  an  ordeal,  as  we  unroll 
the  record  of  that  thirty  years,  and  find  no  blot  or  stain  upon 
the  fair  page  upon  which  it  has  been  written.  It  is  the  record 
of  one,  who,  to  the  character  of  the  upright  citizen  and  firm  and 
patriotic  magistrate,  added  the  no  less  honorable  claim  to  vener- 
ation and  respect,  of  being,  in  all  things,  an  honest  man. 

Next  to  the  eminent  distinction  which  he  won  in  the  various 
political  offices  which  he  was  called  to  fill,  was  that  which  he 
achieved  at  the  bar  and  upon  the  bench.  It  required  talents  and 
industry  of  a high  order  to  attain  to  the  rank  which  he  held  at 
this  bar,  then  hardly  second  to  any  in  the  Commonwealth,  against 
such  competitors  as  Jabez  Upham,  Francis  Illake,  and  John  Da- 
vis, to  say  nothing  of  younger  members  of  the  profession,  and  the 
able  and  distinguished  advocates  from  other  counties  who  often 


84 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


attended  the  courts  here.  To  the  affluent  command  of  ready  and 
appropriate  language,  the  clearness  of  statement  and  the  impres- 
sive eloquence  which  distinguished  all  his  addresses,  whether  at 
the  bar  or  before  public  assemblies,  he  added  a thoroughness  of 
preparation  and  an  earnestness  in  the  presentation  of  his  causes 
which  gained  for  him  a large  practice  in  his  profession,  as  well 
as  the  reputation  of  a learned  and  able  advocate  which  was  sec- 
ond to  none  in  the  county,  and  to  few,  if  any,  in  the  Common 
wealth. 

And  when  he  was  transferred  from  the  bar  to  the  bench  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  he  gave,  at  once,  an  earnest  of  a like  suc- 
cess in  a new  career,  from  which  he  was,  however,  very  early  with- 
drawn by  an  election  to  the  Chief  Magistracy.  Nor  can  I properly 
omit  to  allude  in  this  connection  to  that  dignity  and  scrupulous 
courtesy  of  manner  which  mark  the  high  bred  gentleman,  and 
which  he  always  evinced  as  well  in  private  life  as  in  his  public 
ministrations. 

Of  his  public  and  enlightened  zeal  as  a citizen  in  promoting 
whatever  could  advance  the  interests  of  the  Commonwealth  and  his 
own  county  and  town,  he  has  left  too  many  visible  memorials  to 
require  me  to  speak  of  these  in  detail.  To  eveiy  such  measure 
as  offered  a reasonable  ground  for  confidence  in  its  ultimate  suc- 
cess, he  lent  a willing  ear  and  a helping  hand. 

The  military  organizations  of  the  Commonwealth  always  found 
in  him  an  active  and  earnest  supporter.  He  was  an  early  and 
consistent  advocate  of  those  measures  which  had  their  origin  durum 

O o 

his  administration,  for  developing  and  bringing  into  action  the 
industrial  resources  and  pursuits  of  the  State.  He  was  a prac- 
tical promoter  as  well  as  an  intelligent  advocate  of  agriculture, 
as  a business  and  liberal  science,  and,  for  many  years,  infused  his 
own  spirit  into  the  community  around  him  by  his  efficiency  as 
President  of  the  original  Agricultural  Society  of  Worcester  Coun- 
ty. And  both  the  county  and  the  Commonwealth  are  in  danger 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


85 


of  losing  the  consciousness  of  what  they  owe  to  his  zeal  and  gener- 
ous public  spirit,  for  the  high  condition  of  her  industrial  and  econ- 
omical interests. 

This  same  desire  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  everything 
around  him,  was  evinced  in  his  efforts  to  advance  the  beauty,  in- 
terests, and  importance  of  his  native  town.  His  own  house  was 
always  the  centre  of  a generous  and  elegant  hospitality,  and  with 
its  surroundings  was  one  of  the  most  attractive  objects  in  the  then 
village  in  which  it  was  situated.  And  the  mansion  in  which  he 
spent  his  years  of  dignified  retirement  was  almost  the  pioneer, 
outside  of  the  limits  of  that  village,  of  those  more  stately  and  pala- 
tial residences  which  look  out  upon  the  busy  streets  and  widen- 
ing expanse  of  the  city  into  which  it  has  been  changed  by  the 
magic  power  of  industry  and  intelligent  labor. 

One  characteristic  of  the  public  life  of  Governor  Lincoln 
which  was,  perhaps,  more  marked  than  any  other,  was  the  uni- 
form thoroughness,  assiduity,  and  completeness,  with  which  he 
performed  every  duty  required  of  him  by  the  place  he  was  called 
to  fill.  He  neglected  no  service  because  it  wanted  the  prestige 
of  dignity.  He  omitted  no  office  of  courtesy  or  propriety  be- 
cause it  was  unknown,  and  might  pass  unnoticed  by  others.  He 
dignified  every  place  lie  occupied,  and  so  conducted  himself  in  it, 
that  it  dignified  him  in  return.  And  however  high  might  be  its 
requirements,  he  was  able  to  bring  to  it  at  all  times,  powers  and 
capacities  adequate  to  all  its  reasonable  demands. 

I have  scarcely,  as  yet,  spoken  of  Governor  Lincoln  in 
his  relations  in  private  life.  I can  hardly  hope  to  do  it  justice 
in  such  a presence,  and  before  the  echoes  have  died  away  of 
that  cheerful  and  cordial  greeting  with  which  he  always  met 
and  welcomed  his  friends  and  neighbors.  And  while  I need  not 
dwell  upon  these  to  you  who  have  known  him,  to  such  as  did 
not  know  him,  I could  at  best  indulge  only  in  general  terms  when 
attempting  to  speak  of  him  in  his  home,  in  the  social  intercourse 


86 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


with  friends,  and  in  the  amenities  of  manner,  which  always  marked 
him  as  the  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  And  yet  I ought  to 
say  a single  word  of  his  character  as  a man  of  thrift  and  busi- 
ness, in  this  age  of  universal  haste  to  be  rich.  In  all  his  varied 
transactions  as  a professional  man  and  a citizen,  which  were  often 
widely  extended,  no  imputation  of  unfairness  in  his  dealings,  no 
disposition  to  take  advantage  of  the  necessities  of  others,  or  to 
withhold  a generous  forbearance,  and  no  reluctance  to  do  exact 
justice,  ever  rested  upon  his  name.  His  word  was  as  trustworthy 
as  his  bond,  nor  did  he  ever  meet  with  a deserving  object  of  char- 
ity in  his  walks,  whom  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

Had  proof  been  wanting  of  his  ardent  love  of  country,  in 
the  long  life  which  he  had  been  so  ready  to  devote  to  her  cause, 
it  would  have  been  more  than  supplied  by  the  singleness  of  pur- 
pose and  ardor  of  zeal  with  which  he  lent  his  personal  effort,  as 
well  as  influence,  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union  when 
the  life  of  the  nation  was  in  danger.  The  call  of  the  country 
upon  her  sons  in  that  fearful  struggle,  found  no  livelier,  or  more 
unselfish  response,  than  in  the  sacrifices  and  stirring  appeals  of 
this  eloquent  old  man  of  fourscore. 

And  the  part  which  he  took  in  casting  the  vote  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  the  last  Presidential  election,  for  him  who,  under  Prov- 
idence, had  led  us  as  a people  through  that  fiery  trial,  was  a 
fitting  act  to  crown  a public  life  of  so  much  usefulness  and 
honor. 

I would  gladly,  if  my  time  permitted,  allude  also  to  the  con- 
nection which  our  friend  had  so  long  maintained  with  the  cause 
of  education  and  the  institutions  of  learning  in  the  Common- 
wealth. His  relation  to  Harvard  College  from  the  time  of  his 
graduation  in  1802,  was  always  that  of  a patron  and  efficient 
friend.  He  was  many  years  a trustee  of  Leicester  Academy  ; and 
of  the  various  charitable  and  religious  associations,  as  of  the  church 
and  society  in  which  he  worshipped,  with  which  he  was  connected, 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


87 


he  was  ever  a steady  and  consistent  supporter.  Of  what  he  has 
done  for  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  to  whose  interests  he 
lias  evinced  an  active  devotion  from  its  first  organization,  I hardly 
need  remind  its  members,  as  they  recall  the  many  claims  upon 
their  respect  which  the  contemplation  of  his  life  cannot  fail  to 
awaken.  The  only  fitting  way  in  which  they  can  signify  their 
sense  of  the  loss  which  their  association  has  sustained  in  his 
death,  is  by  turning  aside,  for  a little  while,  from  the  busy  walks 
of  active  duty,  and  joining  with  those  who  will  gather  around 
his  open  grave  to-day,  to  pay  their  last  tribute  of  respect  to  his 
memory.  Many  can  join  with  me  in  adding  the  personal  offer- 
ing of  grateful  emotions,  when  recalling  the  unselfish  considera- 
tion  with  which  he  attached  himself  to  his  friends.  There  was  a 
sincerity  in  his  friendship  which  was  above  the  influence  of  sun- 
shine or  success,  and  was  not  measured  in  its  warmth  or  expression 
by  how  it  was  to  tell  upon  his  own  personal  advancement.  And 
there  will  be  a wide  circle  outside  of  that  more  central  point  of 
his  household  and  his  home,  who  will  mourn  him  as  a loved  and 
cherished  friend.  Nor  can  I add  anything  more  on  this  occasion 
than  to  remind  you  that  the  eloquent  advocate,  the  excellent  citi- 
zen, the  wise  counsellor,  the  consummate  magistrate,  the  high- 
toned  gentleman,  and  the  genial  and  faithful  companion  and  friend 
has  passed  away,  in  the  ripe  vigor  of  his  manhood,  in  the  full 
possession  of  his  powers,  and  the  undimmed  lustre  of  his  fame. 
Nothing  remains  for  us  but  to  draw  lessons  for  ourselves  and 
others  from  the  example  he  has  left  us,  and  to  express  by  our 
presence  at  the  obsequies  paid  to  the  honored  dead,  the  love  and 
veneration  we  bore  for  him  while  living. 

Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Thomas  spoke  substantially  as  follows  : 

Mr.  President  : 

I had  expected  that  a professional  engagement  would  have 
prevented  my  being  with  you  to-day,  — otherwise  I would  not 


88 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


have  come  without  some  preparation.  As  it  is  I must  trust  to  the 
suggestion  and  word  of  the  moment. 

As  I came  home  this  morning,  for  this  is  the  spot  of  earth 
that  wears  to  me  the  neai’est  aspect  of  home,  something  seemed  to 
be  wanting.  The  place  was  here  in  the  freshness  and  beauty  and 
glory  of  the  spring-time,  — these  rounded  hills  crowned  with  the 
homes  of  taste  and  culture,  this  valley  teeming  with  life, 'which 
nature  and  art  have  united  to  make  so  beautiful, — but  something 
was  wanting.  Without  the  spiritual,  the  material  is  ever  wanting. 
Men  make  the  city,  as  they  “ make  the  state.”  I felt  that  the 
erect  and  manly  form  with  which  time  had  dealt  so  gently,  soften- 
ing as  with  the  hues  of  twilight,  those  winning  and  courtly  man- 
ners, that  venerable  and  kindly  presence,  that  stately,  graceful, 
and  eloquent  speech,  which  have  lent  such  charm  and  dignity  to 
the  proceedings  of  our  Society,  we  should  see  and  hear  no  more. 
The  link  which  bound  this  generation  to  the  last,  the  thronged  and 
busy  city  to  the  quiet  rural  village,  was  to  be  laid  in  his  grave. 

Gov.  Lincoln  came  from  a vigorous  stock.  Among  my 
earliest  recollections  of  Worcester  is  the  seeing  (in  1820,  I think,) 
the  funeral  procession  of  Governor  Lincoln’s  father  winding  its 
way  from  Lincoln  Street  to  the  then  new  burying  ground.  That 
was  an  event  in  our  village  history,  for  he  was  the  most  eminent 
of  her  citizens,  the  intimate  friend  of  Jefferson  and  Madison, 
Lieutenant-Governor  and  acting  Governor  of  the  State,  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States,  and  by  appointment  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  From  that  day  to  this,  the 
history  of  his  eldest  son  has  been  part,  and  a most  honorable  part 
of  the  history  of  Massachusetts.  By  the  time  he  reached  mature 
manhood  he  had  been  a Representative  of  the  town,  Senator  of  the 
County,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Lieutenant 
Governor,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  Governor  of  the 
Commonwealth.  The  duties  of  each  and  every  place  he  had  dis- 
charged with  signal  ability  and  fidelity.  He  had  large  instinctive 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


89 


capacity  for  the  public  service.  It  belonged  to  the  family.  Some 
of  us  may  recollect  seeing  standing  by  the  mother’s  grave,  Levi, 
Governor  of  Massachusetts ; Enoch,  the  accomplished  Governor 
of  Maine;  John,  then  Senator  of  the  State,  and  in  clear,  vigorous 
understanding,  firmness  of  purpose  and  executive  force,  perhaps 
primus  inter  pares;  and  William,  the  accomplished  scholar  and 
antiquarian,  historian  of  Worcester,  then  representing  the  town 
with  distinction  in  the  General  Court. 

I cannot  enter  with  any  detail  upon  the  public  life  and 
services  of  Gov.  Lincoln.  Their  history  will  doubtless  be  written 
by  competent  hands.  I can  but  glance  at  one  or  two  points.  As 
Governor  he  did  great  service  to  the  Commonwealth  by  the 
sagacity  and  foresight  with  which  he  devoted  himself  to  her  means 
of  internal  communication.  Our  admirable  system  of  railroads 
owes  much  to  his  unremitting  zeal  and  energy,  when  men,  who 
thought  themselves  wise  and  prudent,  held  back  or  sneered. 

If  any  one  act  of  his  public  life  were  to  be  selected  as  deserv- 
ing especial  notice  and  gratitude,  it  would  be  that  in  which,  at  the 
sacrifice  of  personal  friendship  and  attachment,  he  gave  to  the 
Commonwealth,  the  most  eminent  and  useful  of  her  judicial  magis- 
trates, in  the  appointment  of  Lemuel  Shaw  as  Chief  Justice. 

The  quality  which  distinguished  his  administration  of  public 
office,  was  the  thoroughness  and  fidelity  with  which  he  discharged 
every  duty,  great  or  small.  He  magnified  his  office.  He  jealously 
upheld  its  dignity  and  consideration,  and  none  of  its  duties  were 
looked  at  as  small.  It  was  enough  for  him  that  there  was  work  to 
be  done,  and  if  to  be  done,  it  must  be  well  and  faithfully  done. 

Gov.  Lincoln  was  a man  of  firmness  and  courage.  He  loved 
and  desired  to  win  and  retain  popular  favor.  But,  he  loved  it 
wisely  and  not  too  well.  lie  did  not  believe  in  this  new  gospel, 
which  substitutes  popular  opinion  for  the  divine  will,  or  the  mature 
convictions  of  one’s  own  judgment, — a doctrine  which  so  shrivels 
and  dwarfs  the  culture,  the  understanding,  the  faith,  and  the  man- 
12 


90 


MEMORIAL  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN. 


hood  of  so  many  of  the  public  men  of  to-day.  He  would  do  his 
duty  though  it  cost  him  the  averted  looks  of  friends,  or  stirred 
popular  wrath  and  indignation.  He  knew  “the  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth.” 

I ought  perhaps  to  stop  here.  The  judgment  says,  yes,  but 
the  heart  says,  no.  I must  draw  a little  nearer. 

Some  forty-two  years  ago,  I went  with  Gov.  Lincoln  and  his 
military  family  through  the  country  to  Taunton  to  attend  a 
review.  I was  greatly  delighted  by  the  dignity  and  courtesy  of 
his  manners,  and  by  his  kindness  and  attention  to  myself,  a boy 
of  thirteen.  From  that  time  to  this,  I have  received  from  him 
nothing  but  kindness  and  consideration  ; and  there  have  been  times 
when,  in  my  humble  sphere,  I seemed  to  be  treading  the  wine- 
press alone,  when  the  assurance  of  his  approbation,  confidence,  and 
sympathy,  has  been  to  me  a benediction.  Standing  by  his  open 
grave,  I could  not,  Mr.  President,  omit  this  expression  of  love 
and  gratitude. 

These  occasions,  Mr.  President,  belong  rather  to  the  living 
than  to  the  dead.  He  may  not  hear  these  voices  of  eulogy  and  of 
grateful  remembrance.  If,  looking  upon  a long  life  so  well  spent, 
vai’ied  service  so  well  done,  varied  honors  so  worthily  won  and 
worn,  we  catch  no  inspiration  from  his  example,  no  invigoration  in 
the  way  of  duty,  it  were  better  that  our  lips  were  silent  as  his  own, 
and  that  the  dead  should  be  left  to  bury  their  dead. 


I 


